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PROGRESS  THROUGH  THE  GRADES 
OF  CITY  SCHOOLS 

A  STUDY  OF  ACCELERATION  AND  ARREST 


BY 

CHARLES  HENRY  KEYES.  Ph.  D. 

2.  3  3S"i- 


TEACHERS  COLLEGE,  COLUMBIA  UNIVERSITY 
CONTRIBUTIONS  TO  EDUCATION,  NO.  42 


PUBLISHED  BY 

Etnti[9XB  (Hallti^t,  dalnmbia  Inittrrciitg 

NEW  YORK  CITY 

1911 


Copyright,  1911,  by  Charles  Henry  Keyes 


r 


CONTENTS 

Section  Page 

Introduction     -------------       i 

I  Conditions    --------------       i 

II  Accelerates  from  1904-1907     --------      g 

III  Study  of  683  Cases  of  Arrest    -------15 

IV  The  Accelerates  ------------     7,2 

V  Comparison   of   606   Normal    Pace    Pupils   with 

Accelerates  and  Arrests    --------47 

VI  Study  of  131  Honor  Pupils    --------55 

VII  Conclusions  --------------58 

VIII  Appendix  ---------------70 

IX  Bibliography     -------------    y^ 


PROGRESS  THROUGH  THE  GRADES  OF 
CITY  SCHOOLS 


INTRODUCTION 
A  3  ^  g  -i. 
The  purpose  of  this  study  is  to  inquire  into  the  quantity,  place, 
and  causes  of  Acceleration  and  Arrest  in  the  passage  through 
the  grades,  and  to  determine  some  of  the  factors  that  facilitate 
or  hamper  progress.  It  was  undertaken  under  the  stimulus 
received  in  a  course  of  lectures  given  by  Professor  E.  L.  Thorn- 
dike,  of  Teachers  College,  Columbia  University,  in  the  summer 
session  of  1910.  It  was  prosecuted  during  the  whole  of  the 
subsequent  academic  year,  under  the  special  guidance  and  criti- 
cism of  Professor  Thorndike,  to  whom  the  writer  is  indebted 
for  many  features  of  the  plan  of  treatment  and  for  constant  aid 
in  its  execution.  Grateful  acknowledgments  are  also  due  to 
Professor  Henry  Suzzallo  and  Professor  George  Drayton 
Strayer,  of  Teachers  College,  Columbia  University,  both  of  whom 
contributed  valuable  constructive  criticism  during  the  progress 
of  the  work. 

I 

CONDITIONS 

The  field  chosen  was  a  single  supervision  district  enrolling 
about  S,ooo  pupils  annually.  The  course  of  study  covered  nine 
years  above  the  kindergarten  and  involved  about  one-eighth  more 
subject  matter  than  appears  in  the  ordinary  eight-grade  course, 
the  grades  being  progressively  more  difficult  to  the  end.  Some 
light  will  be  thrown  upon  the  quantity  and  character  of  the  work 
by  the  following  time  schedule: 


Progress  through  the  Grades  of  City  Schools 


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Conditions  3 

The  population  was  cosmopolitan.  Its  chief  elements  were 
American,  Irish,  German,  Swedish,  Norwegian^  Italian,  Russian, 
Canadian,  English,  French,  Scotch,  Polish,  Armenian,  and 
Lithuanian.  Other  races  were  represented,  but  the  fourteen 
named  comprised  more  than  ninety-six  per  cent  of  the  popula- 
tion. In  religion  they  were  Protestants,  Catholics,  and  Jews. 
The  chief  industries  maintaining  the  homes,  were  manufacturing 
of  a  widely  varied  character,  banking,  insurance,  jobbing,  mer- 
chandising, transportation,  and  those  of  the  shops  common  to  all 
American  cities  of  100,000  population.  Schools  were  generously 
supported.  In  wealth,  social  status,  and  intelligence,  the  district 
represented  every  class  from  the  highest  to  the  lowest.  Laws 
enforcing  compulsory  education  and  prohibiting  child  labor  were 
rigidly  enforced  by  both  city  and  state  authorities.  These  laws 
protected  all  children  up  to  fourteen  years  of  age  and  the  more 
backward  up  to  sixteen  years. 

Constant  endeavor  was  made  to  provide  one  teacher  for  every 
forty  pupils,  only  forty-two  sittings  being  placed  in  each  room. 
Formal  promotions  occurred  in  June  of  each  year.  Teachers 
were  forbidden  to  detain  pupils  or  permit  them  to  remain  in 
the  school  buildings  at  recess  or  after  the  regular  hour  for 
dismissal.  All  recesses  were  taken  in  the  open  air  every  day 
in  the  year  save  when  rain  or  snow  were  falling  at  the  recess 
time.  All  primary  schools  took  such  daily  open  air  recesses 
for  ten  minutes  at  the  end  of  every  hour.  School  gardens  were 
operated  for  children  in  primary  grades  on  the  school  grounds. 

Below  the  third  grade,  promotions  were  made  by  the  principal 
on  the  recommendation  of  the  grade  teacher,  after  personally 
satisfying  himself  of  the  pupil's  ability  to  begin  the  work  of  the 
next  grade.  In  all  other  grades  promotions  were  largely  based 
on  written  and  oral  tests  given  three  times  each  year.  These 
tests  were  prepared  in  various  ways,  some  by  committees  of 
grade  teachers,  some  by  committees  of  principals,  some  by  the 
supervising  office,  some  by  joint  committees  representing  all 
three  of  these  interests.  With  the  results  of  these  tests  there 
were  combined  the  class  teacher's  judgments  of  the  pupil's  work 
in  each  subject.  But  in  every  case  the  endeavor  was  to  deter- 
mine whether  the  pupil  had  proved  capacity  to  go  ahead.  Indi- 
vidual promotions  were  made  at  any  time  between  September 


4  Progress  through  the  Grades  of  City  Schools 

and  March  that  the  conditions  warranted.  Special  classes  for 
gifted  pupils  and  for  slow  pupils  were  maintained  in  every  school. 

Pupils  were  admitted  to  the  first  grade,  at  or  after  reaching 
the  sixth  birthday;  but  children  who  had  spent  two  years  in  the 
kindergarten  and  were  physically  fit  were  admitted  under  this 
age.  Children  from  first  grades  in  other  cities  and  systems 
were  received  by  transfer  without  regard  to  this  age  limit.  To 
be  apparently  physiologically  six  years  old,  was  sufficient  to 
secure  admission.  As  a  matter  of  fact  nearly  2  per  cent  of 
the  entrants  to  grade  one  were  under  five  years  of  age;  nearly 
3  per  cent  were  between  five  and  five  and  one-half  years  of 
age ;  25  per  cent  were  between  five  and  one-half  and  six  years 
of  age;  38  per  cent  were  between  six  and  six  and  one-half 
years  old ;  20  per  cent  between  six  and  one-half  and  seven  years ; 
6  per  cent  between  seven  and  seven  and  one-half ;  4  per  cent 
were  seven  and  one-half  to  eight;  and  2  per  cent,  over  eight 
years  old. 

To  make  clear  another  condition  of  the  problem  it  is  important 
to  show  the  comparative  enrollment  by  grades  for  the  seven 
years  covered  by  this  study. 

TABLE  2 

Total  Enrollment  by  Grades  for  Each  of  the  Seven  Years 
Involved  in  This  Study 


School  Ye:ir 

1903 

1904 

1905 

1906 

1907 

1908 

1909 

Totals 

Kindergarten.. . 

713 

718 

747 

741 

752 

742 

7S1 

5.194 

K'g 

(Double  grade) 

First  grade  .... 

659 

655 

627 

638 

584 

679 

716 

4,558 

1 

Second  grade..  . 

555 

557 

550 

557 

545 

528 

516 

3,808 

II 

Third  grade.  .  .  . 

519 

522 

536 

549 

520 

526 

514 

3,686 

III 

Fourth  grade..  . 

498 

510 

520 

531 

526 

510 

509 

3,604 

IV 

Fifth  grade  .... 

470 

465 

472 

522 

524 

508 

500 

3,461 

V 

Sixth  grade.  .  .  . 

4.SB 

434 

423 

439 

475 

467 

451 

3,127 

VI 

Seventh  grade.  . 

360 

,S6^ 

407 

421 

430 

434 

445 

2,862 

Vli 

Eighth  grade. .  . 

242 

295 

316 

340 

361 

352 

351 

2,257 

VIII 

Ninth  grade .  .  . 

196 

216 

279 

293 

316 

317 

309 

1 ,926 

iX 

Totals 

4-650 

4,737 

4,877 

S.031 

5,033 

5,063 

5,092 

34,483 

Conditions  5 

The  point  to  be  noticed  in  this  table  is,  that  the  number  of 
pupils  beginning  school  is  practically  the  same  for  each  of  the 
seven  years  as  shown  by  the  figures  for  the  enrollment  in  the 
first,  second,  and  third  grades.  Increasing  persistence  in  school 
steadily  advances  the  total  enrollment,  but  the  initial  enrollment 
varies  very  little. 


The  fact  that  there  is  one  teacher  for  every  forty-two  pupils, 
that  there  are  a  sufficient  number  of  teachers  and  school  rooms, 
that  the  pupil's  fitness  to  proceed  is  tested,  that  the  principal 
in  every  building  is  free  to  promote  all  proven  pupils  and 
required  to  promote  no  others,  are  conditions  making  the  field 
of  investigation  especially  important.  Many  studies  are  made 
of  rapidly  growing  cities  where  there  are  neither  teachers  nor 
rooms  enough  to  meet  the  admission  pressure,  and  where  the 
demand  of  new  entrants  for  the  seats,  forces  teachers  and  prin- 
cipals to  move  practically  all  the  pupils  along.  They  do  what 
they  must  under  pressure,  until  the  grades  are  reached  where 
elimination  reduces  the  pressure.  Then  arrest  seems  large,  simply 
because  it  has  accumulated,  and  is  made  manifest  by  tests 
applied  to  determine  fitness  for  entrance  upon  the  w^ork  of  the 
last  grades  of  the  course.  Freedom  from  such  necessity  was 
one  of  the  chief  characteristics  of  the  groups  herein  studied. 

Further  knowledge  of  the  situation,  that  is  necessary  to  under- 
standing the  results  of  the  study,  is  disclosed  by  two  specimen 
age-grade  distribution  tables.  One  is  taken  from  the  middle 
of  the  seven-year  period,  another  at  the  close.  In  these  tables, 
age  4  means  4.0  years  to  4.99  years;  age  5  means  5.0  years  to 
5.99  years,  etc. 


Progress  through  the  Grades  of  City  Schools 


TABLE  3 
Age-Grade  Distribution  for  1909-10 


Age 

4  yrs. 

5  yrs. 

6  yrs. 

7  yrs. 

8  yrs. 

9  yrs. 

10  yrs. 

Grade 

Kg. 

410 

358 

13 

I 

102 

488 

102 

24 

II 

92 

320 

89 

15 

III 

102 

308 

91 

13' 

IV 

10 

73 

295 

110 

V 

5 

63 

288 

VI 

10 

58 

VII 

13 

VIII 

IX 

Totals 

410 

460 

593 

534 

499 

474 

482 

Per  cents 

8 

9 

II. 6 

10  .4 

9.8 

9-3 

9.4 

Age-Grade  Distribution  for  1906-07 


Age 

4  yrs. 

5  yrs. 

6  yrs. 

7  yrs. 

8  yrs. 

9  yrs. 

10  yrs. 

Grade 

Kg. 

411 

317 

13 

I 

162 

349 

lOI 

27 

II 

148 

261 

124 

24 

III 

131 

214 

122 

74 

IV 

4 

118 

210 

121 

V 

6 

119 

174 

VI 

8 

103 

VII 

15 

VIII 

IX 

Totals 

411 

479 

510 

497 

489 

483 

487 

Per  cents 

8.1 

9-5 

10  .1 

9.8 

9-7 

9.6 

9.6 

Conditions 


TABLE  3 — {continued) 
Ages  for  Beginning  of  the  Year 


II  yrs. 

12  yrs. 

13  yrs. 

14  yrs. 

15  yrs. 

16  yrs. 

17  yrs. 

Totals 

781 

716 

St6 

514  ■ 

21 

509 

io8 

31 

5 

500 

268 

105 

10 

451 

66 

242 

102 

22 

445 

6 

42 

216 

85 

2 

351 

15 

33 

152 

88 

14 

7 

309 

469 

435 

366 

259 

90 

14 

7 

5.092 

9.2 

8.5 

7-1 

5 

1.9 

•3 

.14 

Ages  for  Beginning  of  the  Year 


II  yrs. 

12  yrs. 

13  yrs. 

14  yrs. 

15  yrs. 

16  yrs. 

17  yrs. 

Totals 

741 

638 

557 

8 

549 

69 

9 

531 

119 

89 

15 

522 

168 

lOI 

59 

439 

113 

169 

97 

27 

421 

12 

102 

135 

83 

7 

r 

340 

10 

104 

158 

19 

I 

I 

293 

489 

480 

410 

268 

26 

2 

I 

5.031 

9-7 

9-5 

8.1 

5-3 

•5 

8  Progress  through  the  Grades  of  City  Schools 

For  every  pupil  in  the  system  there  was  accessible  a  record 
made  each  year,  of  age,  sex,  grade,  eye  condition,  deportment, 
scholarship,  and  time  lost  during  the  year.  The  continuous 
records  of  3,279  pupils  were  studied.  First,  the  school  histories 
of  all  the  pupils  who  during  the  years  1905,  1906,  and  1907 
gained  one  or  more  grades,  were  carefully  examined.  These  were 
1,239  in  number.  Second,  call  was  made  for  the  history  of 
all  the  pupils  for  whom  there  were  six  or  more  annual  records 
on  the  seven  points  named  above,  and  who  had  at  some  time 
been  compelled  to  repeat  one  or  more  grades.  This  brought 
683  individual  records.  Third,  all  who  had  at  some  time  gained 
one  or  more  years,  and  whose  detailed  record  on  all  points 
for  six  or  more  years  was  available,  were  studied.  These  were 
613  in  number.  Fourth,  study  was  made  of  the  records  of 
about  an  equal  number  of  pupils  who  had  been  for  six  or  more 
years  in  the  same  schools  and  who  had  in  that  time  neither 
gained  nor  lost  a  grade.  These  proved  to  be  606  in  number. 
Fifth,  all  the  honor  roll  pupils  in  the  graduating  classes  from 
six  schools  in  one  year,  and  from  seven  schools  in  the  suc- 
ceeding year,  were  made  the  subjects  of  study. 

The  progress  of  these  3,272  pupils  through  this  long  series 
of  years  was  investigated  with  the  initial  purpose  of  learning 
how  far  age  at  entrance,  time  lost,  condition  of  eyes,  deportment, 
race,  or  sex,  contributed  to  either  arrest  or  acceleration  in  pro- 
gress through  the  grades.  Is  there  any  evidence  that  some  ages 
are  especially  fecund  of  arrest  or  acceleration?  What  grade  or 
grades,  if  any,  are  particularly  productive  of  arrest  or  accelera- 
tion? What  study  or  studies,  if  any,  tend  to  arrest  or  accelerate 
progress  ?  How  far  are  both  arrest  and  acceleration  phenomena 
of  nature  over  which  nurture  has  not  complete  control?  The 
following  section  presents  the  results  of  the  examination  of  the 
records  of  the  accelerates.  These  accelerates  or  grade  gainers 
are  the  pupils  who  at  some  time  made  up  or  gained  a  grade, 
that  is  one  year's  time,  in  their  progress  through  the  schools. 


II 


ACCELERATES  FROM  1904-07 

During  these  three  years  1,239  pupils  gained  one  or  more 
years ;  of  these,  705  were  boys  and  534  girls.  That  is,  nearly  32 
per  cent  more  boys  than  girls  gain  grades.  The  distribution  of 
these  gains  is  shown  in  the  plot  and  table  following: 


TABLE  4 

Per  ct. 
Grade      Boys        Girls       Total         in 
gained  gaining  gaining  gaining   Grade 

Gaining 


I 

0 

0 

0 

0 

II 

87 

66 

153 

7 

III 

143 

III 

254 

13 

IV 

143 

no 

253 

13 

V 

145 

107 

252 

14 

VI 

95 

73 

168 

9 

VII 

84 

61 

145 

9 

VIII 

8 

6 

14 

I 

IX 

0 

0 

0 

0 

G-i,c'c    in   m  is^   J/  EI  EH  nn  zz 


I       Totals      705 


534 


1.239 


Under  the  organization  it  was  not  possible  to  skip  either  the 
first  or  the  ninth  grade  and  only  one  pupil  in  a  hundred  suc- 
ceeded in  skipping  the  eighth  grade.  Grades  three,  four,  and 
five  are  most  productive  of  gains,  furnishing  61  per  cent  of 
the  whole  number,  and  appear  to  be  practically  alike  in  the 
opportunity  or  condition  of  the  pupils  or  both.  Grade  two,  per- 
haps because  it  is  reached  before  pupils  get  fairly  under  way, 
shows  only  half  as  much  grade-gaining  as  appears  in  grade  five. 
The  large  gains  in  the  three  middle  grades  would  have  a  tendency 
to  reduce  relatively  the  gains  in  grades  above. 


lO 


Progress  through  the  Grades  of  City  Schools 


Among  the  1,239  accelerates  or  grade-gainers  were  913  who 
went  to  work  or  moved  away  without  graduating.  Their  gains 
were  distributed  as  shown  below : 

TABLE  5 


Crade 


X  a  HI  m    iz  et   mi  mn  iz 


Grade  Boys  Girls         Total 

gained       gaining       gaining     Gaining 


II 

72 

63 

134 

III 

125 

103 

228 

IV 

"3 

104 

217 

V 

102 

90 

192 

VI 

47 

36 

83 

VII 

32 

24 

56 

VIII 

2 

I 

3 

Totals 


493 


420 


913 


The  remaining  326  graduated  from  the  grammar  schools. 
Gains  of  this  group  as  shown  below  present  a  totally  different 
distribution. 


h 


TABLE  6 


Grade 


II 
III 
IV 
V 
VI 
VII 
VIII 

Totals 


Boys 

Girls 

Total 

gaining 

gaining 

Gaining 

12 

7 

19 

16 

10 

26 

25 

II 

36 

39 

21 

60 

54 

31 

85 

59 

30 

89 

7 

4 

II 

114 


326 


CraJe     J     JJ    M   IV    X    U    YJ  Vm  IX 


The  divisions  represented  in  the  two  foregoing  tables  may 
be  characterized  fairly  as  a  separation  from  the  others,  of  the 
top  quarter  in  point  of  ability  and  capacity,  so  far  as  the  pro- 
cesses and  activities  of  the  school  may  indicate  these.  It  will 
be  noted  that  for  the  913  who  do  not  graduate  the  ground- 
gaining  mode  is  the  third  grade,  while  for  the  326  completing 


Accelerates  from  igo4-0/ 


II 


the  grammar  school  course  it  is  the  seventh  grade.  There  are 
17.5  per  cent  more  boys  than  girls  in  the  former  division  and 
86  per  cent  more  boys  than  girls  among  the  grade-gainers  who 
go  on  to  graduation. 

Of  the  913  non-graduates  who  gained  one  or  more  years  dur- 
ing the  course,  35  boys  and  32  girls  also  lost  a  grade.  Forty-four 
of  these,  24  boys  and  20  girls,  lost  the  grade  immediately  after 
the  one  they  gained.  Of  the  326  graduates  who  completed  the 
course  in  one  or  more  years  less  than  schedule  time,  15  boys 
and  15  girls  also  lost  a  grade,  8  boys  and  9  girls  losing  the 
grade  immediately  following  that  which  they  gained.  These 
losses  seem  in  no  way  related  to  the  skipping  or  making  up  of 
any  particular  grade.  That  is,  the  arrest  after  acceleration  does 
not  point  to  any  particular  grade  as  being  an  especially  unfor- 
tunate one  to  be  passed  or  made  up  by  bright  pupils,  as  will 
appear  from  the  following  showing  of  the  grade  gained  by  all 
those  who  subsequently  lost: 


TABLE  7 
Gains  and  Losses 


Boys 

Girls 

Both  Groups 

Grade 

gained 

Non- 

Non- 

Grad- 

Grad- 

Grad- 

Grad- 

Bov.s 

Girls 

Total 

uate 

uate 

uate 

uate 

II 

I 

8 

2 

4 

9 

6 

15 

III 

3 

8 

I 

9 

II 

10 

21 

VI 

2 

6 

2 

6 

8 

8 

16 

V 

5 

6 

I 

4 

1 1 

5 

16 

VI 

I 

5 

2 

6 

6 

8 

14 

VII 

3 

I 

5 

2 

4 

7 

II 

VIII 

0 

I 

2 

I 

I 

3 

4 

Totals 

15 

35 

15 

32 

50 

47 

97 

It  will  be  noticed  in  this  connection  that  of  all  those  who 
skip  a  grade  only  one  in  fourteen  fails  to  maintain  the  gained 
rank.  Of  those  who  complete  the  full  nine  years  and  thus  have 
the  maximum  exposure  to  arrest  only  one  in  every  eleven  loses 
the  ground  gained. 


1 2  Progress  through  the  Grades  of  City  Schools 

But  the  total  ground  gained  is  more  than  1,239  years.  A  gain 
of  3  years  is  made  by  two  boys  and  no  girls  among  the  non- 
graduates,  and  by  two  boys  and  one  girl  among  the  graduates. 
A  gain  of  2  years  is  made  by  fourteen  boys  and  twelve  girls 
from  the  non-graduate  group,  and  by  sixteen  boys  and  eleven 
girls  of  the  graduate  group.  Thus  the  boys  gain  743  years 
time  and  the  girls  559  years.  The  total  enrollment  of  boys  and 
girls  during  this  time  was  practically  the  same. 

The  larger  number  of  boys  among  the  ground-gainers  is  in 
part  due  to  a  hesitancy  on  the  part  of  teachers  and  parents  to 
let  the  girls  undertake  the  extra  work  necessary  to  gain  a  grade, 
in  part  to  the  more  ready  acceptance  of  the  conventional  schedule 
by  girls,  and  for  girls  by  their  parents.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
larger  number  of  boys  looking  ahead  to  business  careers,  or  to 
college  and  professional  life,  were  stimulated  to  save  time.  Not 
a  few  capable  boys,  whose  home  conditions  demanded  that  they 
should  go  to  work  as  early  as  possible,  and  who  were  yet  am- 
bitious to  finish  the  grammar  school  course,  were  prompted  to 
make  the  extra  endeavor.  These  factors  all  contributed  to 
enable  these  pupils  to  reduce  the  time  for  completing  the  course 
from  9  years  to  7.9  years.  No  skipping  was  possible  in  either 
grade  one  or  grade  nine.  There  were  enrolled  in  the  seven 
remaining  ground-gaining  grades  4,186  different  pupils  during 
the  three  years  under  consideration.  This  number  includes,  once 
only,  every  pupil  who  was  enrolled  in  all  these  seven  grades, 
no  matter  how  brief  the  period  of  his  attendance.  Thus  29.6 
per  cent  of  all  pupils  enrolled  in  these  seven  grades  gained  one 
or  more  years. 

During  the  same  three  years,  932  pupils,  or  22  per  cent  of 
the  total  number  of  different  pupils  enrolled,  failed  of  promotion 
in  the  same  seven  grades.  If  those  arrested  in  the  ninth  grade 
are  added  the  number  becomes  1,038.  If  to  these  we  add  all 
pupils  held  over  in  grade  one,  many  of  whom  did  not  enter 
school  before  the  end  of  March  of  each  year,  the  total  number 
of  arrests  becomes  1,254.  The  term  arrests  is  used  to  designate 
all  pupils  denied  promotion  and  required  to  repeat  a  grade  and 
lose  a  year  in  their  progress  through  the  schools.  The  total 
number  of  different  pupils  appearing  in  these  nine  grades  during 
the  three  years  was  5,824.  Thus  the  total  number  of  arrests 
was  less  than  24  per  cent  of  all  enrolled. 


Accelerates  from  ipo4-o'/ 


13 


Turning  next  to  examine  the  age  at  which  the  326  graduating 
accelerates  entered  the  first  grade,  and  the  age  at  which  they 
graduated  from  the  ninth  grade,  we  find  the  facts  to  be  as  shown 
in  the  following  table: 

TABLE  8 
Age  at  Entrance  and  at  Graduation  of  326  Accelerates 


Entered 

Graduated 

Grade  I 

Boys 

Girls 

Total 

AT 

Boys 

Girls 

Total 

AT  Age  of 

Age  of 

4  yrs. 

3 

2 

5 

12  yrs. 

S 

7 

15 

5     " 

33 

32 

65 

13      " 

60 

61 

121 

6      " 

107 

102 

209 

14      " 

43 

40 

83 

7      " 

23 

20 

43 

1=;      " 

46 

43 

89 

8      " 

2 

I 

3 

16      " 

7 

4 

II 

Over  8  yrs. 

I 

0 

I 

Over  16  yrs. 

5 

2 

7 

Totals 

169 

157 

326 

Totals 

169 

157 

326 

From  this  it  appears  that  more  than  85  per  cent  of  these  accel- 
erates enter  school  at  six  years  old  or  under,  the  average  entrance 
age  being  5.9  years.  More  than  67  per  cent  of  them  graduate 
when  fourteen  years  old  or  younger,  the  average  graduating 
age  being  13.9  years.  Late  entry  does  not  contribute  to  accelera- 
tion. Of  course,  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  late  entry,  while 
it  is  not  necessarily  evidence  of  sub-normal  capacity  or  low 
mentality,  points  in  that  direction.  In  fact,  practically  all  late 
entries  in  communities  like  the  one  studied  are  due  to  four  causes. 
These  are:  (a)  low  or  slow  mentality;  (b)  remoteness  from 
school  facilities,  such  as  is  the  lot  of  many  emigrant  children 
prior  to  their  arrival  in  America;  (c)  illness;  and  (d)  parental 
conviction  that  primary  schools  and  their  activities  do  not  con- 
stitute the  best  physiological  environment  for  young  children, 
and  that  in  the  long  run  no  time  will  be  lost  by  late  entry.  In 
the  community  studied,  these  causes  are  influential  in  the  order 
named ;  and  the  accelerates  who  entered  later  than  six  years  of 
age,  are  all  explained  by  either  the  second  or  the  fourth  of  these 
causes. 

This  division  of  the  study  was  undertaken  to  discover  the 
truth  on  a  few  specific  points  only.  The  evidence  warrants  the 
following  conclusions  for  communities  thoroughly  enforcing  the 
compulsory  school  attendance  law,  furnishing  a  teacher  for  every 


14  Progress  through  the  Grades  of  City  Schools 

forty  pupils,  and  making  provision  for  special  opportunity  for 
slow  and  for  gifted  pupils: 

1.  The  number  of  accelerations  is  larger  than  the  number  of 
arrests;  and  if  we  exclude  from  the  reckoning  all  pupils  who 
do  not  enter  the  first  grade  until  two-thirds  of  the  school  year 
has  elapsed,  the  accelerations  are  much  more  numerous  than 
the  arrests. 

2.  More  boys  than  girls  are  found  in  the  ranks  of  accelerates. 

3.  Late  entry  into  the  first  grades  does  not  contribute  to  accel- 
eration of  progress.  The  average  accelerate  enters  school  first 
under  six  years  of  age.  The  school  which  would  be  of  most 
service  to  the  community  and  not  unmindful  of  its  duty  to 
gifted  pupils  should  receive  all  pupils  who  are  physiologically 
six  years  of  age,  no  matter  what  the  chronological  age,  provided 
it  does  not  thereby  cripple  its  facilities  for  receiving  and  training 
in  the  most  effective  way,  those  who  are  older  or  within  the  com- 
pulsory attendance  limits.  The  whole  regimen  of  the  primary 
school  should  be  such  as  to  furnish  the  desirable  hygienic  en- 
vironment needed  by  the  young  child. 

5.  The  average  accelerate  has  no  difficulty  in  gaining  more 
than  one  full  year  in  the  first  seven  years  of  progress  through 
the  grades  of  the  public  schools. 

6.  Such  possible  accelerates  are  present  in  our  schools  in 
large  number,  constituting  from  one-fourth  to  one-third  of  our 
whole  body  of  pupils  above  the  first  grade. 


Ill 


STUDY  OF  683  CASES  OF  ARREST 

The  age  at  which  each  of  these  683  pupils  who  became  arrests 
or  "repeaters,"  entered  the  first  grade  is  important;  and  since 
the  same  data  will  be  needed  in  the  study  of  the  613  accelerates 
or  "  gainers,"  and  of  the  606  "  regulars,"  or  pupils  who  neither 
gain  nor  lose  grades,  these  facts  for  all  three  groups  are  shown 
in  the  following  table: 


TABLE  9 

Entrance  Ages  of  1,902  Pupils  Studied  in  Sections  III, 

IV,    AND   V 


Entrance 

Repeaters 

Gainers 

Regulars 

All  Classes 

Age 

Boys 

Girls 

Boys 

Girls 

Boys 

Girls 

Boys 

Girls 

Under  5 

II 

7 
18 

3 

I 
4 

7 

7 
14 

21 

15 
36 

5  -5* 

7 

16 
23 

5 

6 

II 

12 

15 
27 

24 

37 
61 

54-6 

77 

67 
144 

58 

56 

114 

78 

103 
183 

213 

226 
439 

6  -6^ 

124 

91 

215 

no 

120 

108 

III 

342_ 

322 

230 

219 

664 

6^7 

So 

55 
135 

79 

64 
143 

68 

47 
115 

227 

166 

393 

7  -7* 

34 

36 
70 

28 

24 
52 

18 

12 

30 

80 

72 
152 

7h~& 

24 

17 
41 

18 

13 
31 

5 

5 
10 

47 

35 

82 

8  or  over 

16 

21 
37 

13 

15 
28 

6 

4 
10 

35 

40 

75 

Totals 

5I373* 

310J 
683 

-'  314 

299^" 

-^"'302 

3043^ 
606 

989 

913 

613 

1 ,902 

IS 


i6 


Progress  through  the  Grades  of  City  Schools 


The  same  data  may  be  more  useful  for  comparative  purposes 
if  cast  in  per  cent  forms.  This  is  done  in  the  subjoined  table, 
using  as  the  basis  of  the  percentage  for  each  item  of  each  of 
the  twelve  columns  of  Table  9,  the  total  of  the  column  in  w^hich 
the  item  occurs : 

TABLE  10 

Entrance  Ages  of  1,902  Pupils  Studied  in  Sections  III, 
IV  and  V 

In  Per  Cents 


Repeaters 

Gainers 

Regulars 

All  Classes 

Entrance 
Age 

Boys 

Girls 

Totals 

Boys 

Girls 

Totals 

Boys 

Girls 

Totals 

Boys 

Girls 

Totals 

Per 
cent 

Per 

cent 

Per 

cent 

Per 
cent 

Per 
cent 

Per 
cent 

Per 
cent 

Per 
cent 

Per 

cent 

Per 

cent 

Per 
cent 

Per 
cent 

Under  5 

3 

2 

2.6 

1 .0 

•3 

.6 

2-3 

2 

3 

2.3 

2 . 1 

I 

7 

1.9 

s  -s^- 

2 

S 

3-4 

1.6 

2.0 

1.8 

4.0 

5 

0 

4-5 

2 .  2 

4 

0 

3-3 

5^-6 

21 

21 

21 .0 

18.4 

18.6 

18. 5 

25-9 

33 

6 

30 -0 

21.5 

24 

7 

23.0 

6-  6i- 

33 

30 

31-5 

3S-0 

40.3 

37.6 

35-9 

36 

7 

36.2 

34.6 

35 

3 

35. 0 

6^-7 

22 

18 

20  .0 

25.0 

21. 5 

23 -4 

22  .  4 

IS 

4 

19.0 

23.0 

18 

3 

20.  6 

7  -7i 

9 

12 

10. 0 

9.0 

8.0 

8.5 

6.0 

4 

0 

5.0 

8.4 

7 

8 

8.0 

7l-S 

6 

5 

6.0 

6.0 

4.0 

5.5 

IS 

I 

5 

i-S 

4.6 

3 

9 

4.3 

8  or  over 

4 

7 

5. 5 

4.0 

S-O 

5.0 

2  .0 

1 

5 

1.5 

3-6 

4 

3 

3.9 

Total 

100 

100 

100 

100 

100 

100 

100 

100 

100 

100 

100 

100 

Of  all  those  who  began  the  first  grade  before  the  fifth  birth- 
day, 50  per  cent  are  compelled  to  repeat  a  grade.  The  same 
thing  is  true  of  all  who  enter  over  eight  or  over  seven  and  one- 
half.  Almost  the  same  proportion  (46  per  cent)  fail  somewhere 
among  those  who  enter  between  seven  and  seven  and  one-half. 
Practically  one-half  of  all  children  who  begin  the  first  grade  after 
reaching  their  seventh  birthday,  or  before  reaching  their  fifth, 
may  be  expected  to  lose  a  year  at  some  time  during  the  gram- 
mar school  course. 


Study  of  68 J  Cases  of  Arrest 


17 


It   is   necessary   to   know    how   these   losses    are    distributed 
through  the  grades  and  this  is  shown  in  the  following  table : 


TABLE  11 

Repeaters  Shown  by  Grade  and  Sex  for  Eight  Age-Groups 
OF  Entrants 

The  upper  number  in  each  line  is  for  boys;  the  lower  is  for  girls 


Beginning 
Grade  I  at 

Grades 

Totals 

Age  of 

I 

II 

III 

IV 

V 

VI 

VII 

VIII 

IX 

Boys 

Girls 

Under  5  yrs. 

0 

4 

4 

I 

I 
0 

4 
I 

I 
I 

I 
0 

0 
0 

0 
0 

0 
0 

II 

7 

18 

5-5  i  yrs. 

4 
8 

I 
3 

0 
0 

0 

I 

0 
2 

0 
2 

I 
0 

0 
0 

I 

0 

7 

16 

23 

5i-6     yrs. 

14 
17 

13 
6 

9 

7 

18 
13 

II 
9 

2 

4 

4 
3 

4 

4 

2 
4 

77 

67 

144 

6-6^  yrs. 

17 
8 

14 

10 

15 
10 

19 
20 

16 
16 

17 
10 

14 

5 

10 
10 

2 
2 

124 

91 

215 

6f-7     yrs. 

7 
3 

6 

16 
10 

16 
10 

II 
8 

5 
9 

1 1 

7 

3 
4 

5 
2 

So 

55 

135 

7-7  i  yrs. 

I 
4 

2 

I 

6 

5 

3 

2 

6 

10 

4 
7 

0 

6 
6 

3 
I 

34 

36 

70 

7*-8  yrs. 

0 

I 

I 
0 

5 
3 

4 

I 

5 
4 

3 
4 

4 

I 

2 

0 
I 

24 

17 

41 

8  yrs.  or  over 

2 
2 

I 
0 

4 

I 

4 

2 
3 

3 
6 

I 
0 

I 

I 

3 
I 

16 

21 

37 

Boys 
Girls 

45 
47 

42 
23 

54 
39 

65 
52 

52 
53 

35 
42 

3S 
16 

26 
27 

16 
1 1 

3  73 

3T0 

683 

Totals 

92 

65 

93 

ri7 

105 

77 

54 

53 

27 

683 

Two  things  should  be  observed  in  this  table.  First,  the  grades 
most  prolific  of  arrest  are  the  fourth,  fifth,  and  third;  and  all 
exceed  the  first,  so  commonly  held  to  be  the  most  productive  of 
repeaters.  Second,  the  boys  in  this  group  are  more  numerous 
than  the  girls,  just  as  they  were  in  the  large  group  of  accelerates 
considered  in  Section  I,  as  would  be  expected  from  the  known 
greater  variability  of  the  male. 


i8 


Progress  through  the  Grades  of  City  Schools 


At  what  age  these  arrests  occur  is  equally  important.     The 
following  are  the  facts : 


TABLE 

12 

Boys 

Girls 

TOTJ! 

Under  6 

0 

4 

4 

6-  7 

28 

20 

48 

7-  8 

32 

27 

59 

8-  9 

33 

26 

59 

9-10 

SI 

42 

93 

lO-II 

56 

52 

108 

11-12 

41 

34 

75 

12-13 

42 

37 

79 

13-14 

36 

32 

68 

14-15 

27 

24 

51 

15-16 

17 

II 

28 

16-17 

6 

I 

7 

Over  17 

4 

0 

4 

Total 

373 

310 

683 

But  before  the  two  foregoing  tables  can  be  intelligently  inter- 
preted we  must  know  what  percentage  of  the  total  enrollment 
each  age  and  each  grade  represents.  Then  by  noting  the  per  cent 
of  arrests  at  each  age  and  at  each  grade  we  can  answer  the 
questions :  What  percentage  of  its  equitable  proportion  does 
each  age  produce?  What  percentage  of  its  equitable  proportion 
of  arrests  does  each  grade  produce?  That  is,  if  we  know  that 
grade  five  comprises  10  per  cent  of  the  total  enrollment  and 
produces  20  per  cent  of  the  cases  of  arrest,  we  know  that  grade 
five  is  responsible  for  200  per  cent  of  its  equitable  proportion 
of  the  repeaters.  If  we  knew  that  the  ten-year-olds  were  8  per 
cent  of  the  enrollment,  and  that  ten-year-old  repeaters  were  12 
per  cent  of  the  total  arrests,  we  could  at  once  say,  age  ten 
produces  150  per  cent  of  its  equitable  share  of  the  repeaters. 

Table  13  shows  in  the  first  column  all  ages  represented  above 
five  years  in  the  grades  from  one  to  nine  inclusive.    The  second 


Study  of  68 J  Cases  of  Arrest 


19 


column  shows  what  per  cent  the  enroHment  of  each  age  is  of 
the  total  enrollment  over  five.  The  third  column  shows  what 
percentage  of  all  the  repeaters,  the  repeaters  of  any  given  age 
constitute.  The  fourth  column  shows  the  ratio  of  the  number 
of  repeaters  of  any  given  age  to  the  percentage  of  the  enrollment 
of  that  age.  In  other  words  the  right-hand  column  of  Table  13 
answers  the  question :  What  percentage  of  its  due  share  of 
arrests  does  each  age  from  six  to  seventeen  produce? 

TABLE  13 

The  Right-Hand  Column  Answers  the  Question,  what  Percentage 
OF  Its  Due  Share  of  Repeaters  Does  Each  Age  Produce 


A 

A 

B 

B 

Age 

Percentage  of 

Enrollment  of 

Each  Age 

Percentage  of 

Repeaters  of 

Each  Age 

Ratio  of  Frequency 

of  Repeaters  to 

Frequency  of  Age 

Distribution 

6 

7 
8 

12  .1 
10  .9 
10  .1 

7.0 
8.6 
8.6 

•57 
•79 

.80 

9 

II  .4 

13-6 

1. 19 

10 

"•3 

15.8 

1 .40 

II 

II. 6 

10  .9 

•  94 

12 

10.7 

II-5 

1 .08 

13 

10  .9 

10  .0 

.91 

14 

7-3 

7-4 

1 .01 

15 

2  .1 

4.1 

1-95 

16 
17  and  over 

•3 
.16 

I  .0 
.6 

3-33 
3-75 

The  fifteen-year-olds  furnish  nearly  double  their  fair  share 
of  the  repeaters,  the  sixteen-year-olds  three  and  one-third  times 
their  share  and  the  seventeen-year-olds  claim  three  and  three- 
quarters  times  as  many  arrests  as  they  are  entitled  to  by  their 
numbers.  These  pupils  were  nearly  all  late  entries,  some  of 
low  or  slow  mentality,  many  of  them  emigrants  from  lands  of 
illiteracy,  but  all  possessed  of  an  ambition  to  go  on  and  graduate 
from  the  grammar  schools.  The  three  ages  at  the  beginning  of 
the  school  course  are  least  fecund  of  arrest.  In  this  regard  the 
six-year-olds  lead  all  the  others.  That  is,  if  a  child  is  such  a  one 
as  could  enter  the  schools  at  six  years  of  age,  he  is  rarely  likely 
to  be  held  back  during  his  first  year.  Ages  ten,  nine,  and  twelve 
cover  the  period  that  produces  most  repeaters. 


20 


Progress  through  the  Grades  of  City  Schools 


TABLE  14 

The  Right-Hand  Column  Answers  the  Question,  what  Percentage 
OF  Its  Due  Share  of  Repeaters  Does   Each  Grade  Produce 


Ratio  of  Frequency 

Percentage 

Percentage 

of  Repeaters  to 

Grade 

of 

of 

Frequency  of  Grade 

Enrollment 

Repeaters 

Distribution,' 

I 

13.6 

13-4 

.98 

II 

12.7 

9-5 

•75 

III 

12  .1 

13  -4 

1 .10 

IV 

12  .2 

17. 1 

1 .40 

V 

12  .2 

15-3 

1.25 

VI 

II  .0 

II  .2 

1 .01 

VII 

10  .0 

7-9 

•79 

VIII 

8.4 

7-9 

.94 

IX 

7-3 

4.0 

•54 

The  fact  that  grade  nine  has  only  half  its  proper  share  of 
repeaters  is  to  be  accounted  for  in  part  by  the  frequency  with 
which  pupils  of  this  grade,  who  see  failure  impending,  leave 
school  and  go  to  work.  They  are  fourteen  years  of  age  or  over. 
They  have  reached  a  grade  where  the  sixteen-year-old  clause 
of  the  compulsory  law  is  inoperative,  they  are  physically  fit  in 
most  instances  to  go  to  work ;  so  they  drop  out  and  reduce 
unduly  the  number  of  repeaters  charged  against  this  grade. 
Grades  three,  four,  and  five  are  the  places  of  high  exposure  to 
arrest.  Grades  two  and  seven  produce  proportionally  fewer 
repeaters  than  any  other  grades  excluding  the  ninth,  which  may 
for  reasons  stated  above  fairly  be  dismissed  from  comparison. 
The  first  and  sixth  grades  produce  practically  only  their  equitable 
proportion  of  repeaters. 

How  far  is  loss  of  time  coincident  with  arrest  or  immediately 
precedent  thereto?  The  average  loss  of  time  in  the  first  grade 
for  all  the  pupils  who  repeated  grade  one  was  15.6  days.  In 
grade  two  repeaters  lost  on  an  average  13.7  days.  In  grade 
three  repeaters  lost  on  an  average  14.5  days.  In  grade  four 
repeaters  lost  on  an  average  12.2  days.  The  record  in  grade 
five  was  identical  with  that  of  grade  four,  12.2  days.  In  grade 
six  the  average  loss  of  time  by  repeaters  was  10.5  days.  In 
grade  seven  this  average  loss  was  10.2  days.  In  grade  eight 
it  dropped  to  9.5  days.    In  grade  nine  it  was  only  9.2  days.    Thus 


Study  of  68 J  Cases  of  Arrest  21 

the  loss  in  grade  one  is  on  an  average  only  8.2  per  cent  of  the 
total  time;  in  grades  two  and  three  about  7.5  per  cent;  in  grades 
four  and  five,  less  than  6.5  per  cent;  in  grades  six  and  seven, 
5.5  per  cent;  while  in  grades  eight  and  nine  the  loss  is  less  than 
5  per  cent. 

This  loss  of  time,  under  the  general  acceptance  and  rigid  en- 
forcement in  the  community  of  the  laws  requiring  constant  at- 
tendance and  prohibiting  child  labor,  is  practically  a  measure 
of  the  amount  of  illness  in  all  the  grades  from  two  to  eight 
inclusive,  as  the  law  requiring  the  children  to  be  in  attendance 
every  day  on  which  school  was  in  session  had  the  heartiest 
public  sentiment  behind  it  and  was  rigidly  enforced.  The  losses 
noted  are  not  so  great  when  one  remembers  that  the  large 
majority  of  all  the  cases  of  chicken-pox,  measles,  mumps,  scarlet 
fever,  whooping-cough,  diphtheria,  to  say  nothing  of  scabies  and 
pediculosis,  occur  within  the  age  limits  covered  by  this  study. 

As  nearly  as  can  be  determined  from  the  health  records  for 
the  last  five  years  of  the  period  studied,  there  occurred  each  year 
among  the  pupils  represented  in  the  schools  an  average  of  92 
cases  of  diphtheria,  46  cases  of  typhoid  fever,  56  cases  of 
scarlet  fever,  and  119  cases  of  measles.  These  diseases  alone 
make  large  inroads  on  attendance.  Pupils  are  often  incapacitated 
for  school  work  for  periods  much  longer  than  is  indicated  by 
the  exclusion  time  of  health  regulations.  Twelve  weeks  loss  on 
account  of  typhoid  and  ten  weeks  on  account  of  scarlet  fever 
are  neither  uncommon  nor  unwise.  In  the  case  of  diseases  like 
scarlet  fever  or  diphtheria,  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  the 
exclusion  operates  not  only  against  all  other  children  in  the 
family,  but,  in  the  case  of  those  resident  in  tenement  or  apart- 
ment houses,  against  all  children  using  the  same  entrance  to 
the  house.  Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  the  number  of  long-time 
absences  is  necessarily  large,  even  in  the  presence  of  an  advanced 
and  vigorous  policy  of  school  and  municipal  sanitation. 

The  prevalence  of  children's  diseases  during  the  years  from 
five  to  ten  (practically  covering  the  first  five  grades)  is  remark- 
able as  the  following  will  show: 

The  records  of  the  famous  Measles  epidemic  of  Kiel  in  i860, 
as  reported  by  Nathnagel,  show  that  90  per  cent  of  all  the  cases 
between  5  and   15  years  were   found  to  be  between   the  ages 


22  Progress  through  the  Grades  of  City  Schools 

of  5  and  lo  years.  The  records  of  the  New  York  City  Board 
of  Health  according  to  Dr.  Wm.  H.  Gilfoy  show  that  of  every 
hundred  deaths  from  measles  between  the  ages  of  5  and  15 
years,  97  of  them  are  those  of  children  between  5  and  10  years. 

The  Willard  Parker  Hospital  records  of  1,785  cases  of  Diph- 
theria treated  in  that  institution  in  persons  between  the  ages  of 
5  and  60  years,  show  that  62  per  cent  were  between  the  ages  of 
5  and  15  years.  Of  these  latter,  75  per  cent  were  children  be- 
tween 5  and  10  years  of  age.  The  records  of  the  New  York 
City  Board  of  Health  show  that  of  every  hundred  deaths  from 
diphtheria  between  the  ages  of  5  and  15  years,  89  of  them  are 
those  of  children  between  5  years  old  and  10  years. 

The  Willard  Parker  Hospital  records  of  3,181  Scarlet  Fever 
patients  between  5  and  60  years  of  age  treated  in  that  institu- 
tion show  that  72  per  cent  were  those  of  children  aged  5  to 
15  years.  Of  these  72.6  per  cent  were  aged  from  5  to  10  years. 
The  Board  of  Health  records  of  New  York  City  show  that  of 
every  hundred  deaths  from  scarlet  fever  between  5  and  15 
years  of  age,  yy  are  those  of  the  children  aged  5  to  10  years. 

Similar  records  show  Whooping-Cough  to  be  six  times  as 
prevalent  in  the  first  of  these  five  year  periods  as  in  the  second. 
Of  all  the  mortality  from  this  disease  between  5  and  15  years 
in  New  York  City,  86  per  cent  of  it  is  among  children  aged  5 
to  10  years. 

So,  too,  children  during  the  first  five  years  of  school  life  have 
about  four  times  as  much  Broncho-Pneumonia  as  in  the  years 
from  10  to  15.  Of  the  deaths  from  this  disease  during  the 
ten  years  under  discussion  79  per  cent  of  them  occur  between 
tlie  fifth  and  tenth  year.  Mumps  and  Chicken-pox  likewise 
occur  most  frequently  during  this  same  period. 

The  records  of  the  Princeton,  Indiana,  schools  for  1910,  as 
given  in  the  annual  report  of  Superintendent  Harold  Barnes 
(pp.  78  and  79),  indicate  that  85  per  cent  of  the  cases  of  the 
six  contagious  diseases  for  which  pupils  were  excluded  from 
these  schools  occurred  in  the  first  five  grades.  They  also  show 
that  one  pupil  in  four  was  so  excluded  during  the  year. 

The  evidence  could  be  multiplied  indefinitely  to  show  the  in- 
evitable interference  with  attendance,  to  which  the  first  five 
grades   are  exposed.     The  point  to  keep  in  mind  is  not  only 


Study  of  68 J  Cases  of  Arrest  23 

that  these  children's  contagious  diseases  are  heavily  massed  in 
the  elementary  school  period  and  especially  in  the  first  five  years 
of  school  life,  but  that  the  loss  of  time  which  they  compel  is  very 
large.  Every  case  of  measles  involves  from  two  to  four  weeks' 
absence  for  each  child  affected  and  not  less  than  two  weeks 
absence  for  every  other  non-immune  pupil  coming  from  the 
same  household.  Chicken-pox  demands  for  each  case  a  loss  of 
at  least  two  weeks  and  mumps  a  loss  of  from  two  to  three 
weeks.  Diphtheria  enforces  at  least  four  weeks  of  absence, 
and  scarlet  fever  not  less  than  six.  Whooping-cough  involves 
from  ten  to  twelve  weeks  of  absence. 

Now  if  it  is  remembered  that  it  is  no  uncommon  experience 
to  have  one  pupil  out  of  ever}^  six  enrolled  in  elementary  schools, 
excluded  during  the  year  on  account  of  contagious  disease  or 
exposure  to  the  same,  how  futile  it  is  to  expect  to  eliminate 
exposure  to  it,  how  futile  it  is  to  expect  to  eliminate  arrest  from 
any  system  of  schools  having  a  uniform  course  of  study. 

The  location  of  the  large  absences  indicates  the  situation  of 
the  major  portion  of  all  arrests.  The  figures  given  in  Table 
15  are  the  number  of  absences  of  four  weeks  or  more  which 
occur  in  grade  one  two,  three,  four,  etc.  The  second  column 
registers  those  made  by  accelerates,  pupils  who  at  any  time 
gain  one  full  grade.  The  third  column  records  those  made  by 
arrests,  pupils  who  repeated  any  grade.  The  fourth  column  is 
the  larsre  absence  record  of  the  normals : 


TABLE  15 
Location  of  1,649  Absences  of  4  Weeks  or  More 


Grade 

Number 

by 

Accelerates 

Number 
Arrests 

Number 

by 
Normals 

Totals 

Per  cent 

I 
II 

III 
IV 
V 
VI 
VII 
VIII 
IX 

114 
77 
53 
67 

39 
56 

35 
16 

146 
122 

ITS 

90 
71 
S3 
29 

14 
7 

112 
109 

82 
90 
44 
55 
24 
18 

9 

372 
308 
250 
247 

154 

164 

88 

48 

18 

23 
19 
IS 
IS 
9 
10 

S 
3 

I 

Totfl 

4.=:9 

647 

543 

1,649 

100 

24 


Progress  through  the  Grades  of  City  Schools 


Note  that  1,331  cases  or  80  per  cent  of  all  these  over  four 
weeks'  absences  are  in  the  five  grades  in  which  we  find  the  chil- 
dren who  are  from  five  to  ten  years  old  and  who  are  most 
susceptible  to  the  common  contagious  diseases.  The  total  amount 
of  such  absence  seems  large.  But  it  must  be  remembered  that 
one  case  of  scarlet  fever,  for  example,  in  a  family  wnth  four 
children  of  school  age,  means  four  such  protracted  absences. 
Exposure  to  contagion  often  produces  the  same  interference 
with  attendance  as  does  contracting  the  contagious  disease  or  any 
other  disabling  illness. 

Of  the  arrests  only  24  in  every  hundred  get  through  seven 
years  without  a  record  of  absence  amounting  to  four  weeks 
or  more  in  some  year.  In  every  hundred  of  the  normals  32 
escape  without  a  record  of  four  or  more  weeks'  absence  in 
any  one  year ;  of  the  accelerates  2>?)  in  every  hundred  are  for- 
tunate enough  to  escape  such  absence. 

It  is  apparent,  however,  that  neither  the  average  nor  the  total 
loss  per  pupil  is  so  significant  for  our  problem,  as  protracted 
absence  at  one  time,  or  within  one  year.  About  one-third  of 
all  the  cases  of  arrest  in  the  first  three  grades  follow  four  or 
more  weeks  of  absence  in  the  same  year.  Practically  one-fifth 
of  all  cases  in  grades  four,  five,  eight,  and  nine  are  so  marked. 

The  change  of  residence  involving  change  of  school  is  aston- 
ishingly frequent  and  without  doubt  is  a  marked  factor  in  causing 
arrest  of  progress  through  the  grades.  The  effect  of  massed 
absence  and  change  of  school  will  be  the  more  manifest  from 
the  following  showing  (Table  16)  and  from  others  appearing 
as  we  come  to  examine  the  same  facts  for  the  accelerates. 


TABLE  16 

Frequency  of  Losses  of  Four  Weeks  or  More  and  Fre- 
quency OF  Change  of  Residence  by  Repeaters 
Of  every  100  pupils  who  repeated — 
Grade 
1 30  lost  20  days  or  more  and  29  changed  school 

III.'.'.'.'.".'.'.'.'.'..... 

IV 

V 

VI 

VII 

VII 

IX 


33   " 

' 

' 

'   50 

'      ' 

36  " 

' 

* 

'  42 

' 

20   " 

' 

'   49 

19  " 

' 

'   41 

16   " 

' 

'   27 

*      * 

10   " 

' 

'   43 

*      ' 

23   " 

' 

'   28 

* 

20   " 

' 

'   28 

*      ' 

Having 

Of  Non-English 

EFECTIVE 

Speaking 

Eyes 

Races 

Per  cent 

Per  cent 

36 

52 

30 

50 

39 

42 

40 

49 

37 

41 

40 

27 

24 

43 

19 

28 

18 

24 

Study  of  68 J  Cases  of  Arrest  25 

What  proportion  of  the  repeaters  have  defective  eyesight? 
What  proportion  of  them  are  the  children  of  non-EngHsh  speak- 
ing races?  The  answers  to  both  these  questions  appear  in 
Table  17. 

TABLE  17 


Grade 


I 
II 
III 

IV 
V 
VI 
VII 
VIII 
IX 

The  difficulty  of  securing  scientifically  accurate  results  in  the 
examination  of  the  eyes  of  first  grade  children  with  the  Snellen 
type  test  for  illiterates  probably  makes  the  figures  for  first  grade 
children  too  high. 

How  far  the  sympathy  and  understanding  between  pupils  and 
teacher  contributes  to  acceleration  or  the  lack  of  these  to  arrest 
is  difficult  to  determine.  The  conduct  or  deportment  rankings 
given  each  year  may  be  fairly  taken  as  an  index  of  the  close- 
ness with  which  a  pupil  fits  into  the  spirit  and  methods  of  the 
school.  In  the  schools  under  consideration  the  pupils  are  ranked 
six  times  each  year  in  deportment.  From  the  annual  sum- 
maries of  these  each  year,  I  gather  the  following: 

39  per  cent  of  repeaters  rank  90-100 

34         "  "  "  80-  90 

21         "  "  "  70—  80 

6         "  "  "  60—  70 

This  is  a  record  that  does  not  seem  to  account  appreciably 
for  arrest.  We  shall  see  in  Section  IV  how  it  compares  with 
the  record  of  the  accelerates. 

Pupils  are  ordinarily  required  to  repeat  grades  because  they 
are  not  able  to  pass  examinations  for  entrance  to  the  grade 
above — or  are  not  able  to  do  the  work  of  the  next  higher  grade 
— or  because  they  are  generally  weak  in  the  work  of  the  grade 


26 


Progress  through  the  Grades  of  City  Schools 


in  which  they  are  arrested.  What  effect  has  repetition  of  any 
grade  upon  the  scholarship  of  the  repeater  in  subsequent  grades  ? 
To  test  this,  the  rankings  obtained  in  each  grade  after  the 
repetition,  were  compared  with  those  of  the  two  previous  years. 
For  example,  a  repeater  of  grade  three  made  the  following 
record  in  scholarship: 

Grade  1233456789 

DEFCDDEEFF 


The  subsequent  record  was  accordingly: 


4 


5 


8 


9 


This  is,  his  standing  in  grade  four  was  one-half  rank  better 
{-\-  Yz)  ',  his  standing  in  grade  six  was  one-half  rank  worse 
(—  5^ )  ;  his  standing  in  grade  eight  was  one  and  one-half  ranks 
worse  ( — i^)  than  before  repeating. 

That  is,  in  comparison  with  his  record  in  grades  one  and 
two,  his  records  in  grades  four  and  five  were  each  one-half 
rank  higher  (+>^);  in  grades  six  and  seven,  one-half  rank 
lower  ( —  /^ )  ;  in  grades  eight  and  nine,  one  and  one-half 
ranks  lower  ( — i^).  Every  repeater's  standings  were  so 
tested  and  recorded  when  the  arrest  took  place  below  the  sev- 
enth grade.  In  the  case  of  the  first  grade  repeater  the  com- 
parison was  made  with  his  higher  first  grade  standing.  In  the 
case  of  the  second  grade  repeater  the  comparison  was  made 
with  his  first  and  higher  second  grade  standing.  Assembling 
all  these  comparisons  gave  the  following  results : 

TABLE  18 
Changes  in  Scholarship  for  Better  or  for  Worse  after  Repeating 


After  Repeating 

Grade 

First 

Second 

Third 

Fourth 

Fifth 

Sixth 

year 

year 

year 

year 

year 

year 

I 

+  •54 

+  .42 

—  •13 

+  .10 

—  •39 

—  •45 

II 

+  •35 

+  ■33 

+  •13 

—  .12 

—  •30 

.00 

III 

+  -52 

+  •30 

—  •13 

—  .14 

—  ■33 

IV 

+  1  .50 

+  .85 

+  .58 

—  .09 

—  .78 

V 

+  I.2S 

+  .46 

—  •15 

—  •30 

VI 

+  1  .27 

+  .58 

—  •25 

Study  of  68s  Cases  of  Arrest 


27 


The  six  graphs  (A-F)  bring  out  these  changes  more  clearly 
and  indicate  that  the  tendency  is :  ( i )  to  do  better  work  the 
first  year  after  repeating;  (2)  to  lose  half  this  superiority  the 
second  year;  (3)  to  fall  after  two  years  to  the  level  of  his  per- 
formances prior  to  the  repetition.  Thereafter  he  apparently 
does  worse,  but  this  appearance  is  probably  at  least  in  part  the 
result  of  the  relative  meanings  of  the  marks  A,  B,  C,  D,  etc., 
the  same  symbol  possibly  standing  for  a  higher  degree  of  per- 
formance in  the  late  grades  after  the  less  gifted  pupils  have 
been  arrested  or  eliminated. 


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Changes  in  Scholarship  aftkr  Repeating  Grades 


28 


Progress  through  the  Grades  of  City  Schools 


The  records  of  all  repeaters  from  grades  one  to  nine  were 
next  checked  off  and  classified  as  doing  better  work,  the  same 
grade  of  work,  or  worse  work  after  the  repeating  than  before 
the  arrest,  without  regard  to  how  much  better  or  how  much 
worse  in  each  individual  case.  For  example,  it  was  found  that 
out  of  every  hundred  pupils  required  to  repeat  grade  five,  21 
did  better  work  aftenvards ;  that  is,  in  grades  six,  seven,  eight, 
and  nine,  than  they  had  done  before,  that  is  in  grades  one,  two, 
three,  and  four.  No  change  appeared  in  the  character  of  the 
work  of  39,  Vk'hile  40  did  poorer  work  after  repeating  than  they 
had  before.    The  figures  for  all  the  grades  constitute  Table  19. 

TABLE  19 
Repeaters  of  All  Grades  Who  After  Repeating: 


Grade 

Did 
Better 
Work 

Did 

Same  Grade 

of  Work 

Did 
Worse 
Work 

I 

Per  cent 
46 

Per  cent 
27 

Per  cent 
27 

TI 

15 

30 

54 

III 

19 

31 

51 

IV 

18.8 

31-7 

49-5 

V 

21 

39 

40 

VI 

22 

43 

35 

VII 

28 

52 

20 

VIII 

48 

48 

4 

IX 

70 

30 

0 

All  grades 

28 

36 

36 

There  remains  to  be  examined  the  question  of  how  far  arrest 
is  caused  by  special  subjects  in  the  curriculum  as  a  whole,  or 
in  any  particular  year  of  the  course.  Examination  was  made 
of  the  causes  of  977  arrests;  561  were  taken  without  regard 
to  whether  there  were  available  six  or  more  years'  records ;  416 
were  in  the  list  of  repeaters  furnishing  the  basis  of  this  portion 
of  study.  No  first  grade  repeaters  were  included  because  all 
of  these  were  due  to  the  one  cause,  weakness  in  reading.  The 
facts  for  the  other  grades  are  shown  in  the  following  table: 


Study  of  68 J  Cases  of  Arrest  29 

TABLE  20 

Subjects  Reported  as  the  Strong  Contributing  Cause  of 

977  Arrests 
The  upper  number  in  each  line  is  for  boys;  the  lower  is  for  girls 


Subject 

Grade 

Totals 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

7 

8 

9 

Boys 

Girls 

Reading  and  spell- 
ing   

20 
17 

13 
14 

1 1 
12 

44 

43 

Mathematics 

7 

12 
16 

8 
13 

14 

17 

7 
4 

10 
12 

5 
5 

63 

67 

Mathematics      and 
grammar    

4 
0 

4 
6 

6 

0 

8 
7 

12 
12 

S 

7 

42 

32 

Mathematics      and 
geography 

10 
9 

18 
16 

10 
6 

5 
3 

43 

34 

Mathematics      and 
history 

6 

4 

6 
6 

5 

17 

I  s 

Mathematics,  gram  - 
mar  and  history 

10 
6 

5 

0 

5 

12 

16 

Mathematics,     lan- 
guageand  spelling 

15 
21 

12 
12 

8 
12 

10 
9 

45 

54 

History    and  geog- 
raphy   

7 

0 
4 

7 

1 1 

All  subjects 

^3 
19 

15 
12 

12 

15 

14 

24 

20 

15 
20 

12 
15 

25 
21 

141 

132 

All  but  spelling 

0 

7 

12 

10 

6 

7 

8 
10 

6 

10 

II 
16 

15 
16 

II 
14 

69 

90 

Totals 

58 
64 

59 

54 

53 

58 

62 
68 

68 
63 

67 
67 

62 
69 

54 
67 

483 

494 

The  most  striking  feature  of  this  table  is  the  showing  that 
28  per  cent  of  all  the  arrests  are  failures  in  all  subjects;  and 
that  16  per  cent  more  fail  in  everything  but  spelling. 

Mathematics  alone  causes  13  per  cent  of  the  failures  to  pass ; 
and  mathematics  together  with  one  other  subject  (sometimes 
history,  sometimes  geography,  and  sometimes  grammar)  causes 
18  per  cent  of  the  failures.  In  combination  with  two  other  sub- 
jects it  adds  14  per  cent  more  to  the  list  of  failures. 

Probably  no  rearrangement  of  curriculum  could  save  from 
arrest,  the  44  per  cent  who  fail  in  everything  or  everything  but 
spelling.    They  are  children  of  low  or  slow  mentality  who  need 


30 


Progress  through  the  Grades  of  City  Schools 


more  time.  To  keep  such  children  up  to  grade  would  be  a 
crime.  Fortunately  it  is  not  possible.  This  does  not  necessarily 
mean  that  there  is  much  wisdon^  in  the  present  policy  of  worry- 
ing them  through  one  year  of  dispiriting  failure,  and  then  com- 
pelling repetition  only  to  secure  mediocre  success. 

Mathematics  furnishes  much  hindrance.  This  is  due  in  part 
to  the  nature  of  the  subject.  To  do  the  work  in  mathematics 
of  any  grade  requires  some  reasonable  mastering  of  the  work 
of  the  previous  grade.  This  is  not  true  in  so  marked  a  way 
of  any  other  subject.  In  fact  it  would  be  entirely  possible  to 
do  good  work  in  seventh  grade  history  or  geography  for  example, 
without  even  having  spent  a  day  on  sixth  grade  history  or 
geography.  But  in  arithmetic,  the  shortcomings  of  one  grade 
must  be  added  to  the  burden  of  every  subsequent  grade.  The 
spiral  mode  of  attack,  or  the  constant  review  of  topics,  aims 
to  minimize  this  hindrance,  but  there  is  still  needed  relief  that 
has  not  yet  been  found.  Is  there  any,  short  of  an  arrange- 
ment providing  for  minimum  and  maximum  courses  in  mathe- 
matics in  every  grade  in  question? 

The  constant  appearance  of  evidence  that  pointed  toward  the 
conclusion  that  acceleration  and  arrest  are  indexes  of  nature 
rather  than  consequence  of  nurture,  prompted  examination  of 
the  questions.  "  How  frequently  does  one  family  produce  two 
or  more  accelerates?  How  frequently,  two  or  more  arrests? 
How  frequently  are  both  classes  represented  in  one  family  ?  " 
It  was  found  that  nearly  one-fourth  of  the  613  accelerates  were 
furnished  by  one-fifteenth  of  the  families  represented  in  this 
class,  and  similarly  that  almost  one-fourth  of  the  arrests  came 
from  one-fourteenth  of  the  families  represented.  The  detailed 
results  are  shown  in  Table  21 : 


TABLE  21 

Siblings  among  Accelerates  and  Arrests 


Accelerates 

Arrests 

34      17  pairs 
42     21  pairs 
42      21  pairs 
15        5  trios 
3        I  trio 
3        I  trio 

2  Brothers 

2  Sisters 

Brother  and  Sister 

2  Brothers,  i  Sister 

3  Brothers 
3  Sisters 

28  pairs 

II  pairs 

28  pairs 

3  trios 

I  trio 

I  trio 

56 

22 

56 

9 

3 

3 

139  Accelerates,  66  Families 


72  Families,  149  Arrests 


Study  of  6Sj  Cases  of  A  rresi  3 1 

Thus  '/.'/  per  cent  of  the  famiHes  occasion  24.5  per  cent  of 
the  arrests  and  6.8  per  cent  of  the  families  secure  24  per  cent 
of  the  double  promotions.  On  the  other  hand  only  thirty  mixed 
contributions  appear.     The  cases  are  as  follows : 

Brother  who  gains  and  sister  who  repeats 3  cases 

Sister  who  gains  and  brother  who  repeats 15  '' 

Brother  who  gains  and  brother  who  repeats 3      " 

Sister  who  gains  and  sister  who  repeats 9 

Will  any  uniform  course  of  study  meet  these  conditions? 
Must  not  the  programs  of  study  in  every  grade  present  a  mini- 
mum and  a  maximum  schedule  of  work  to  be  done?  The  same 
school  nurture  can  never  produce  even  approximately  similar 
results  for  groups  varying  as  widely  in  nature  and  home  nurture 
as  those  represented  by  the  accelerates  and  arrests  involved  in 
this  study. 


IV 


THE  ACCELERATES 

The  gainers  or  accelerates  were  613  in  number;  314  of  them 
were  boys,  299  girls.  The  greater  variability  of  boys  is  here 
shown  again.  The  age  at  entrance  as  with  the  "  arrests  "  ranged 
from  4I/4  to  9  years.  The  distribution  of  these  gains  among 
the  grades  and  between  the  sexes  is  shown  for  each  of  the  eight 
age  groups  of  entrants  in  Table  22 : 


TABLE  22 

Grade  Gainers  Shown  by  Grade  and  Sex  for  Eight  Age-Groups 

OF  Entrants 


The  upper  number  in  each  Hne 

is  fo 

r  boys;  the  lower  is  for  girls 

Beginning 
Grade  I 

Grades 

Totals 

at  Age  of 

I 

II 

III 

IV 

V 

VI 

VII 

VIII 

IX 

Boys 

Girls 

'to- 
tal 

Under  5  yrs. 

c 
0 

0 
0 

0 
0 

I 
I- 

I 
0 

0 
0 

0 

0 

I 
0 

0 
0 

3 

I 

4 

5-54  yrs. 

0 
0 

2 
2 

I 
I 

I 
3 

0 
0 

I 

0 

0 
0 

0 
0 

0 
0 

5 

6 

II 

5i-6     yrs. 

0 

0 

6 
6 

16 
16 

17 
18 

12 
9 

3 
2 

4 
3 

0 

2 

0 

0 

58 

56 

114 

6-6^  yrs. 

c 

0 

13 

14 

33 
44 

22 
21 

32 
24 

6 
10 

4 

5 

0 
2 

0 
0 

no 

120 

230 

6^—7    yrs. 

0 

0 

9 

7 

21 
19 

18 
15 

15 
12 

5 

5 

10 

4 

I 
2 

0 
0 

79 

64 

143 

7-7  i  yrs. 

0 
0 

5 
4 

8 

7 

5 
4 

7 
6 

2 

2 

I 
I 

0 
0 

0 
0 

28 

24 

52 

7*-8     yrs. 

0 
0 

I 
2 

6 
2 

I 
3 

6 
6 

4 
0 

0 
0 

0 

0 

0 
0 

18 

^3 

31 

8  yrs.  or  over 

0 
0 

0 
0 

3 
2 

5 

I 

0 

4 

3 
7 

I 
I 

I 

0 

0 
0 

13 

15 

28 

Boys' 
Girls 

0 
0 

36 
35 

88 
91 

70 
66 

73 
61 

24 
26 

20 
14 

3 
6 

0 

0 

314 

299 

613 

Totals 

0 

71 

179 

136 

134 

SO 

34 

9 

0 

613 

32 


The  Accelerates  2>Z 

Taking  into  account  the  total  number  of  entrants  at  each  age, 
we  find  that  of  all  who  enter  the  first  grade,  under  five  years 
of  age,  only  one  in  nine  gains  a  grade  during  the  course.  Of 
those  who  enter  during  their  fifth  year,  one  in  four  makes 
such  gain ;  while  more  than  one  in  every  three,  who  enter  after 
reaching  the  sixth  birthday,  gains  a  year  at  some  time  during 
the  course.  The  exact  figures  for  each  of  the  age  groups  is 
as  follows : 

Under  5  years 11.  i  per  cent 

Between  5     and  5^  yrs 18  " 

5+     "     6       "    26 

6  "      6i     "    34 

6J     "     7        "    36 

7  "      7i     "    34 

"  7i     "     8       "    37 

Over  8  years 37  " 

While  it  thus  appears  that  children  who  enter  school  before 
the  fifth  birthday,  win  double  promotions  not  quite  one-third  as 
frequently  as  those  w^ho  enter  at  six  or  thereafter,  this  does 
not  mean  that  there  is  no  gain  in  starting  children  to  school  at 
an  early  age  if  they  are  physiologically  fit,  as  clearly  appears 
from  observation  of  the  following  facts : 

1.  Of  these  very  early  entrants,  50  per  cent  lose  a  year  in 
seven. 

2.  Of  all  other  entrants,  34  per  cent  thus  lose  a  year. 

3.  Of  the  former,  39  per  cent  suffer  neither  gain  nor  loss 
in  the  course. 

4.  Of  the  later  entrants,  34  per  cent  neither  gain  nor  lose. 

5.  The  early  entrants  get  11  per  cent  of  their  number  into 
accelerate  class. 

6.  The  late  entrants  get  34  per  cent  of  their  number  into  this 
class. 

Thus  it  appears  that  almost  60  per  cent  of  the  early  entrants 
preserve  the  advantage  of  the  year  over  the  average  child. 

To  be  sure  that  the  child  is  mentally  and  physically  able  to 
begin  doing  work  manifestly  planned  for  children  from  5^  to 
6^  years  old,  is  an  important  duty  of  those  charged  with  the 
responsibility  of  either  sending  or  admitting  children  to  school. 
When  satisfied  as  to  this,  the  chronological  age  may  safely  be 
ignored  if  the  school  is  of  the  right  sort. 


34  Progress  through  the  Grades  of  City  Schools 

The  figures  showing  the  large  number  of  gains  among  those 
who  enter  at  seven  or  later,  should  be  interpreted  along  with 
those  heretofore  presented  showing  that  one-half  of  all  chil- 
dren who  enter  the  first  grade  before  they  are  five  years  old 
are  foreordained  to  lose  a  year  in  their  progress  through  the 
grades.  On  the  other  hand  it  must  be  remembered  that  children 
are  educated  by  other  agencies  than  the  school.  Such  infiuences 
are  operative  with  many  for  whom  bodily  disablement,  remote- 
ness from  school,  or  parental  conviction  have  delayed  the  day 
of  entrance.  On  the  other  hand  the  accumulating  evidence  that 
nature  may  play  as  great  a  part  as  nurture  in  determining  the 
rate  of  progress  through  school,  must  be  kept  in  mind. 

The  similarity  of  the  distribution  of  accelerations  through  the 
grades,  between  the  group  of  1.239  accelerates  studied  in  Sec- 
tion II  and  the  613  accelerates  under  consideration  in  this  sec- 
tion, will  be  seen  on  comparing  Table  4  with  Table  21.  If  the 
figures  given  in  the  last  line  of  Table  21  are  doubled  and  thus 
practically  converted  to  the  same  numerical  basis  as  those  of 
the  fourth  column  of  Table  4.  the  comparison  gives  us  the 
following : 

Grade  Locus  OF  Gain  I     II    III    IV     V     VI  VII VIII  IX 

Accelerates  of  Sec.  II .  .  , o   153  254  253  252   168  145      14       o 

Accelerates  of  Sec.  IV o   142  358  272   268   100     68     18       o 

The  general  tendency  is  alike  in  both  groups,  as  witness  their 
distribution  curves.  The  dotted  line  gives  the  distribution  for 
the  613  accelerates  for  whom  there  are  six  or  more  annual 
records,  the  continuous  line  for  the  accelerates  of  Section  II. 

The  fourth,  fifth,  and  third  are  the  grades  most  frequently 
made  up,  just  as  they  are  the  grades  most  frequently  repeated, 
thus  showing  that  arrest  in  these  particular  grades  is  not  due 
to  any  extra  difficulty  attaching  to  the  work  of  these  grades. 
These  three  grades  furnish  the  greatest  exposure  to  loss  and 
the  largest  opportunity  for  gain.  Should  we  not  conclude  that 
they  need  the  services  of  the  most  skilled  members  of  the  teach- 
ing force?  Many  supervising  officers  are  constantly  on  the 
alert  to  find  artist  teachers  for  the  two  lower  and  two  upper 
grades,  and  are  disposed  to  tolerate  so  much  mediocrity  as 
they  must,  in  the  third,  fourth,  and  fifth  grades.  The  results 
shown  here  certainly  point  the  special  folly  of  this  policy. 


The  Accelerates 


35 


I  n 

I  I 

I  t 

,  I 

i  i 

■ 

1 


Cn3^e     J      IT     HI     IF    JZ    m    im   YJU   JZ 
Accelerates  of  Sec.  II  and  Sec.  IV  Compared 

The  ages  at  which  acceleration  takes  place,  indicate  the  same 
necessity  of  providing  the  most  skilled  teachers  for  the  period 
of  high  variability  extending  from  the  eighth  to  the  eleventh 
year.     The  following  are  the  facts : 

TABLE  23 

Ages  at  Which  Acceleration  Occurs 


Age 

Boys 

Girls 

Total 

Under  6 

0 

0 

0 

6-  7 

9 

8 

17 

7-  8 

40 

38 

78 

8-  9 

81 

78 

159 

9-10 

69 

66 

135 

lO-II 

55 

S3 

108 

11-12 

32 

31 

63 

12-13 

22 

21 

43 

13-14 

5 

4 

9 

14-15 

I 

0 

I 

Over  15 

0 

0 

0 

Totals 


314 


299 


613 


36 


Progress  through  the  Grades  of  City  Schools 


While  the  gross  number  of  gains  made  indicates  the  ages 
and  grades  of  largest  opportunity  for  acceleration,  the  facts 
will  be  more  clearly  seen  from  a  statement  of  the  proportion 
of  gainers  at  any  particular  grade  or  age  to  the  whole  number 
enrolled  at  each  grade  and  age.  These  are  shown  in  the  two 
tables  following.  The  right-hand  column  in  Table  24  answers 
the  question  "  What  percentage  of  its  due  share  of  accelerates 
does  each  grade  furnish  ?  " 

TABLE  24 
Percentage  of  Accelerates  to  Grade  Enrollment 


A 

A 

B 

B 

Ratio  of  Frequency 

Percentage  of 

Percentage  of 

of  Accelerates  to 

Grade 

Enrollment  of 

Accelerates  of 

Frequency  of 

Each  Grade 

Each  Grade 

Enrollment  in 
Each  Grade 

I 

13-6 

.0 

.0 

II 

12  .7 

12.4 

•97 

III 

12  .1 

27.9 

2.30 

IV 

12.2 

23-3 

1. 91 

V 

12.3 

23-3 

1. 91 

VI 

II  .0 

6.8 

.62 

VII 

10  .0 

5-3 

•53 

VIII 

8.4 

1-3 

•15 

IX 

7-3 

.0 

.0 

Grade  three  produces  practically  two  and  one-third  times  its 
due  share  of  accelerates ;  grades  four  and  five  nearly  double 
their  respective  shares ;  while  grade  two  falls  only  slightly  below 
its  due  proportion. 

The  right-hand  column  of  Table  25  answers  the  question 
"  What  percentage  of  its  due  share  of  accelerates  does  each  age 
furnish?" 


The  Accelerates 


37 


TABLE  25 
Percentage  of  Accelerates  to  Age  Enrollment 


A 

A 

B 

B 

Ratio  of  Frequency 

Percentage  of 

Percentage  of 

of  Accelerates  to 

Age 

Enrollment  of 

Accelerates  of 

Frequency  of 

Each  Age 

Each  Age 

Enrollment  at 
Each  Age 

6 

12  .1 

2.7 

.22 

7 

10  .9 

12.7 

1. 16 

8 

10.7 

26  .0 

2.43 

9 

II  .4 

22  .0 

1-93 

lO 

II  -3 

16.6 

I  .46 

II 

II. 6 

10  .2 

.88 

12 

10.7 

7.0 

■65 

13 

10  .9 

I  .4 

•13 

14 

7-3 

.16 

.02 

15 

2  .1 

.0 

.00 

Children  eight  years  of  age  furnish  nearly  two  and  one-half 
times  their  due  share  of  gainers.  Children  nine  years  of  age 
have  nearly  double  their  due  share ;  at  ten  years  they  have  nearly 
one  and  one-half  times  their  share.  The  seven-year-olds  too 
have  more  than  their  share. 

Turning  next  to  examine  the  amount  of  interference  with 
regular  attendance  on  the  part  of  accelerates,  it  was  found  at 
every  grade  to  be  less  than  that  of  the  repeaters.  (See  p.  20  ff 
and  Table  15.)  The  average  amount  of  time  lost  each  year 
for  six  years  by  these  accelerates  varies  in  the  different  grades 
from  8.5  days  to  10.75  days.  The  pupils  who  skipped  the  fifth 
grade  for  example  had  an  average  absence  of  8.5  days  each 
year  for  six  years,  while  those  who  skipped  the  second  grade 
lost  on  an  average  10.75  days  per  year  for  six  years.  The  figures 
for  all  are  as  follows : 


Gainers  of  Grade 

II 
III 
IV 

V 

VI 

VII 

VIII 


Lost  Annually 

10.75  days 

9-35 

9-5° 

8.50  " 
10.70  " 
10.15 

9.20       " 


38  Progress  through  the  Grades  of  City  Schools 

Two  other  items  of  interference  with  steady  attendance  of 
accelerates  appear  in  Table  26.  In  every  100  pupils  who  gained 
a  grade,  the  number  absent  20  days  (i.e.,  4  weeks)  or  more 
in  the  year  of  acceleration,  and  the  number  changing  schools 
in  the  year  just  before  the  acceleration  are  the  facts  shown. 


TABLE 

26 

Of  One  Hundred 

Number  Losing 

N' 

umber  Changing 

Gainers  of  Grade 

20  Days  or  More 

Schools 

II 

12 

24 

III 

15 

25 

IV 

10 

14 

V 

9 

20 

VI 

7 

23 

VII 

6 

9 

VIII 

0 

0 

The  total  loss  of  time  for  accelerates  is  almost  21  per  cent 
less  than  for  repeaters.  But  the  interference  is  greater  than 
this  indicates ;  for  while  an  average  of  only  8  per  cent  of  the 
accelerates  in  all  grades  lose  four  weeks  or  more  in  the  year 
prior  to  their  gain,  the  records  of  the  arrests  show  that  on 
an  average  22  per  cent  of  their  number  sustain  this  loss  of 
time.  That  is,  the  large  loss  in  a  single  year  is  nearly  three 
times  as  frequent  among  the  repeaters  as  among  the  accelerates. 

In  the  matter  of  change  of  schools  too,  the  showing  is  equally 
favorable  to  the  accelerates.  On  an  average  only  14  per  cent 
of  them  change  residence  in  the  year  prior  to  their  gain ;  but 
on  an  average  more  than  40  per  cent  of  the  repeaters  make 
such  change  in  the  year  prior  to  arrest. 

The  marked  difference  in  regularity  of  attendance  is  more 
clearly  brought  out  in  the  curve  on  following  page.  The  con- 
tinuous line  shows  the  average  number  of  days'  absence  of  the 
repeaters,  the  broken  line  that  of  the  accelerates. 

Repeaters,  as  a  whole,  lose  26  per  cent  more  time  than  accel- 
erates ;  but  in  the  first  five  grades,  in  which  nearly  three-fourths 
of  all  the  losses  occur,  they  lose  nearly  40  per  cent  more  time 
than  the  accelerates. 

To  throw  further  light  on  the  question  of  the  maximum  loss 
of  time  consistent  with  satisfactory  progress  through  the  grades 
the    records   of    3,623    other   candidacies    for   promotion    were 


The  Accelerates 


39 


L I 


'""TL 


CPra<Je       I  '   U'  m'  IY'    Tl  '  -n'  'yD^  EDI 

Comparison  of  Regularity  of  Attendance  Between  Accelerates  and 

Repeaters 

examined.  These  were  the  records  for  the  whole  period  of  the 
study  of  all  accelerates  who  had  in  any  one  year  lost  twenty 
days  or  more.  They  were  only  353  in  number,  or  less  than  ten 
per  cent  of  all  the  cases.     The  following  is  their  showing: 


No.  of  Days  Lost 20 

No.  of  Cases  of  Each  Loss.  ..    116 


25 
71 


30 

58 


35 
31 


40 

27 


45 


50    or  more 
37     Total  35 


In  all  these  353  cases  the  pupils  were  able  to  earn  promotion 
despite  the  large  losses  of  time.  In  fact  296  of  them  were  with 
candidates  for  a  double  promotion  in  the  year  of  the  large  loss. 
They  failed  in  this  design  but  ivere  able  to  earn  the  regular 
promotion. 

For  126  different  pupils  who  earned  two  double  promotions, 
there  were  records  of  637  annual  candidacies  for  promotion. 
Only  16  of  these,  or  less  than  three  per  cent,  were  marked  by 
losses  of  twenty  da3's  or  more. 

They  were  distributed  as  follows : 


Losing   20  days 9  cases 

25       "    3       " 

"        30        "    2 

35       "    2       II 

"       40        "    I 


40 


Progress  through  the  Grades  of  City  Schools 


Desiring  to  know  more  definitely  how  far  the  loss  of  20  or 
more  days  in  any  one  year  operated  to  insure  arrest,  the  records 
of  3,952  annual  promotions  of  pupils  who  were  at  any  time 
included  among  the  arrests  were  studied.  It  was  found  that 
there  were  among  these  608  cases  of  loss  of  20  or  more  days. 
That  is,  almost  fifteen  and  one-half  per  cent  of  all  candidacies 
for  promotion  in  this  group,  were  marked  by  a  record  of  loss 
not  smaller  than  20  days  in  the  year  of  arrest.  How  often 
does  each  length  of  absence  result  in  arrest?  The  facts  are 
as  follows : 

TABLE  27 


No.  OF 

No.  OF 

No.   OF 

No.  OF 

Cases 

These 

Per  cent 

Those 

Per  cent 

Days  Lost 

OF  Each 

Cases 

Arrested 

Earning 

Promoted 

Loss 

Arrested 

Promotion 

20—24 

148 

59 

40 

89 

60 

25-29 

83 

33 

40 

50 

60 

30-34 

67 

28 

42 

39 

58 

35-39 

47 

17 

36 

30 

64 

40-44 

31 

14 

45 

17 

55 

45-49 

23 

6 

27 

17 

73 

50  or  more 

209 

152 

73 

57 

27 

Examination  of  the  records  of  3,000  candidacies  for  promo- 
tion among  the  normals  revealed  445  cases  of  loss  of  twenty 
days  or  more.  That  is,  one  pupil  in  seven  sustained  such  loss 
and  yet  maintained  the  normal  rate  of  progress.  The  distribu- 
tion of  these  losses  was  as  follows : 


No  Days  Lost 20     25     30     35     40     45     50  or  more 

No  Cases  of  Each  Loss 151      79     59     41     34     21     60     Total  445 

These  results  prompted  the  examination  of  the  records  of  all 
arrests  who  had  lost  less  time  than  twenty  days  in  any  year 
of  the  course  with  a  view  to  discovering  just  what  happened 
after  each  of  the  smaller  losses.  This  involved  going  through 
2,448  candidacies  for  promotion  of  which  407  were  unsuccess- 
ful ;  that  is  one  pupil  in  six  among  those  with  creditable  attend- 
ance records  failed  of  promotion.  The  distribution  of  these 
losses  and  parallel  failures  was  as  follows : 

No.  Days  Lost o      5     10     15 

No.  Cases  of  Each  Loss 803    794    529    322 

No.  Losers  Arrested 117    120     94     76 


The  Accelerates 


41 


Assembling  the  figures  for  the  whole  8,400  cases  involved  in 
these  three  groups,  we  may  answer  the  inquiry  "  What  is  the 
chance  of  failure  each  year  with  perfect  attendance?  5  days 
absence?  10  days  absence?  15  days  absence?  20  days  absence? 
And  so  on." 

TABLE  28 


No.  OF  Arrests 

Per  Cent  of 

No.  Days  Lost 

No.  OF  Cases 

IN  THE  Year 

Arrests  for 

OF  Loss 

Year  of  Loss 

0 

803 

117 

14 

5 

794 

120 

15 

10 

529 

94 

17 

15 

322 

76 

23 

20 

524 

210 

40 

25 

236 

112 

48 

30 

186 

87 

47 

35 

121 

58 

48 

40 

93 

48 

51 

45 

57 

27 

48 

50  or  more 

296 

212 

72 

More  than  three-fourths  of  all  pupils  are  not  hindered  by 
absence  of  less  than  one  month;  when  the  absence  reaches  20 
days,  only  60  per  cent  can  triumph  over  it.  Losses  varying  from 
one  to  two  months  stay  the  progress  of  only  50  per  cent.  But 
when  the  loss  amounts  to  fifty  days  or  more,  nearly  three-fourths 
of  all  pupils  sustaining  such  loss  fail  of  promotion. 


In  point  of  vision  the  accelerates  far  outrank  the  repeaters. 
The  ground-gaining  pupils  show  the  following  percentages  in 
each  grade  with  defective  eyes : 


Grade II     HI     IV     V 

Per  Cent  Defective  Eyes..     14       15      20    14 


VI 


VII 
9 


VIII 


There  is  an  average  of  about  14  per  cent  with  this  defect 
among  accelerates,  while  we  have  already  seen  that  among  the 
arrests  the  average  is  32  per  cent ;  that  is,  nearly  two  and  one- 
half  times  as  many  bad  eyes  are  found  among  repeaters  as 
among  gainers. 


42  Progress  through  the  Grades  of  City  Schools 

In  the  matter  of  possible  advantage  from  having  the  English 
language  as  mother  tongue,  the  study  discloses  that  on  an  aver- 
age fewer  than  seventeen  per  cent  of  the  accelerates  are  children 
of  non-English  speaking  races,  while  we  have  heretofore  seen 
that  practically  forty  per  cent  of  the  arrests  are  such.  The 
figures  for  the  ground  gainers  are  as  follows : 

Grade II     III     IV     V     VI     VII     VIII 

Percentage  of  non-English 

Speaking  Races 24       25      14    20      23  9  2 

The  deportment  records  of  the  accelerates  are  better  than 
those  of  the  repeaters.  Of  all  the  ground-gaining  pupils  66 
per  cent  get  a  ranking  of  90  to  100  as  against  39  per  cent  of 
the  repeaters.  But  on  the  other  hand  only  i  per  cent  get  the 
D  ranking  of  60  to  70  as  against  6  per  cent  of  the  arrests. 
The  full  distribution  of  deportment  ranking  is  as  follows : 

Percentage  Receiving 
Ranking 


Accelerates  Arrests 
90-100                                 66  39 

80-90  28  34 

70-80  5  21 

60—70  I  6 


In  testing  the  question :  "  How  far  does  good  conduct,  accept- 
able behavior,  what  the  school  marks  under  the  heading  deport- 
ment, bear  upon  the  freeing  of  progress  through  the  grades?'" 
the  3,279  pupils  were  examined  in  further  subdivisions.  The 
arrests  were  divided  into  two  groups,  those  who  had  been  com- 
pelled to  repeat  two  grades  and  those  who  had  lost  but  a  single 
year.  The  first  appear  in  the  subjoined  table  as  Double  Arrests 
and  Single  Arrests.  Similar  division  of  the  Gainers  give  us 
the  Double  Accelerates  and  Single  Accelerates.  These  with  the 
Normals  and  Honor  Pupils  are  the  six  classes  represented  in 
the  table  which  shows  the  percentage  of  each  group  receiving 
each  of  the  four  deportment  rankings.  A,  B,  C,  D.  The  A 
group  are  those  whose  deportment  ranking  is  from  90  to  100; 
the  B  group  those  ranking  80  to  90;  the  C  group,  70  to  80; 


The  Accelerates 


43 


the  D  group,  60  to  70.  The  number  receiving  E  or  F  was  so 
very  small  as  to  be  practically  negligible  and  was  omitted  from 
the  comparison.     The  following  are  the  records : 

TABLE  29 

Comparison  of  Deportment  Rankings 

Percentages  of  Each  Receiving  the  Different  Standings 


Ranking 

Double 
Arrests 

Single 
Arrests 

Normals 

Single 
Accelerates 

Double 
Accelerates 

Honor 
Pupils 

90—100 
So-90 
70-80 
60-70 

37 

3  5 

22 

6 

39 

34 

21 

6 

36 
46 
16 

2 

66 

28 

5 

I 

70 

16 

1 1 

3 

53-4 
39-6 

9 

0 

Average 

85-3 

85.6 

86.5 

90.9 

90-3 

91  .8 

The  absence  of  the  two  lower  gradings  does  not  mean  that 
they  were  not  frequently  given ;  but  pupils  receiving  these  very 
low  rankings,  which  indicate  that  the  pupil  is  completely  out 
of  harmony  with  the  purposes  and  activities  of  the  school,  are 
not  found  in  the  groups  that  stay  in  school  for  six  or  more 
years.  While  Normals  stand  higher  than  Arrests,  Accelerates 
higher  than  Normals,  and  Honor  pupils,  the  highest  of  all,  the 
dil¥erence  is  not  great.  \\'hether  high  deportment  rankings 
mark  the  condition  in  which  success  in  study  is  achieved,  or 
Avhether  high  rank  in  study  achieves  the  condition  in  which  good 
grades  in  deportment  are  received,  is  not  here  disclosed.  Prob- 
ably both  things  are  true.  But  in  any  event  it  is  doubtless  true, 
other  things  being  equal,  that  improving  deportment  tends  to 
free  progress  and  improve  scholarship.  The  significance  of  the 
grades  for  deportment  is  investigated  further  in  the  Appendix, 
p.  70  ff. 


44  Progress  through  the  Grades  of  City  Schools 

Advocates  of  hard  and  fast  uniformity  in  progress  through 
the  grades,  often  urge  that  it  is  unwise  to  provide  for  accelera- 
tion as  it  resuhs  in  lowering  the  standard  of  performance  in 
subsequent  grades.  We  have  already  seen  that  92  per  cent  of 
all  who  make  a  double  promotion  succeed  in  holding  the  year 
gain.  The  exact  effect  on  subsequent  scholarship  of  passing  or 
skipping  any  particular  grade  was  determined  by  comparing  the 
rankings  obtained  in  each  year  after  skipping,  with  those  of  the 
two  years  before  the  double  promotion.  In  the  case  of  those 
pupils  who  passed  from  grade  one  to  grade  three  the  com- 
parison was  made  with  the  standing  in  grade  one,  the  only 
available  basis.  The  records  of  pupils  skipping  grades  two, 
three,  four,  five,  and  six  were  thus  studied.  It  will  be  borne 
in  mind  that  as  a  rule  all  these  accelerates  earn  an  A  standing 
in  the  year  preceding  a  double  promotion.  Accordingly  few, 
if  any,  can  do  better  afterwards.  The  question  is.  How  many 
fall  one  or  more  full  grades  lower  in  ranking  in  subsequent 
years?  For  all  those  who  skip  grade  two  the  following  are  the 
average  results : 

They  rank  .9  of  one  point  lower  in  grade  three,  more  than 
one-third  of  all  doing  just  as  well  as  before.  In  grade  four 
they  are  .7  of  a  point  lower,  and  nearly  one-half  show  no  loss. 
In  grade  five  they  are  .5  of  a  point  lower,  fully  one-half  showing 
no  loss.  In  grade  six  the  average  loss  is  .3  of  a  point,  more 
than  one-half  showing  no  loss.  In  grade  seven  the  average  loss 
is  only  .23  of  one  point  and  sixty  per  cent  show  no  loss.  In 
grade  eight,  the  average  loss  is  only  .11  of  one  point  and  sixty 
per  cent  of  all  maintain  the  same  high  standard  as  before.  The 
following  table  and  graph  show  these  results. 


The  Accelerates 


45 


TABLE  30 
Effect  on  Subsequent  Scholarship  of  Skipping  Grade  Two 


Average 

Percentage 

Number  of 

In  Grade 

Showing 

Points  Lower 

No  Loss 

.0 

,■! 

34 

•7 

4 

49 

•5 

5 

50 

•3 

6 

52 

•23 

7 

60 

.  1 1 

8 

60 

Tables  31  to  34  and  accompanying  graphs  are  the  exhibits  for 
the  remaining  grades. 


TABLE  31 

Effect  on  Subsequent  Scholarship  of  Skipping  Grade  Three 


Average 

Percentage 

Percentage 

Number  of 

In  Grade 

Showing 

Showing 

Points  Lower 

No  Loss 

Gain 

1 .1 

4 

26 

8 

•9 

5 

32 

10 

.6 

6 

39 

II 

•4 

7 

40 

20 

•3 

8 

41 

20 

TABLE  32 

Effect  on  Subsequent  Scholarship  of  Skipping  Grade  Four 


Average 

Number  of 
Points  Lower 

•9 
.66 

•  4 

•43 


In  Grade 


Percenta  ge 
Showing 
No  Loss 

26 
40 

39 
50 


Percentage 

Showing 

Gain 

8 
10 
16 
13 


46 


Progress  through  the  Grades  of  City  Schools 


TABLE  33 

Effixt  on  Subsequent  Scholarship  of  Skipping  Grade  Five 


Average 

Number  of 

Points  Lower 

In  Grade 

Percentage 
Showing 
No  Loss 

Percentage 

Showing 

Gain 

I  .  I 

.8 

•7 
.6 

6 

7 
8 

9 

34 
46 

47 
59 

0 
2 

3 
I 

TABLE  34 
Effect  on  Subsequent  Scholarship  of  Skipping  Grade  Six 


Average 

Number  of 

Points  Lower 

In  Grade 

Percentage 
Showing 
No  Loss 

Percentage 

Showing 

Gain 

I  .0 
.8 
.6 

7 
8 

9 

45 

51 
53 

0 
0 
0 

Ptll^.C.S 

CxAi.i  iff   7^3^t  31 

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Two  XJUHHS LOWS  li^ 

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P«y^,ovl 

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r 

a 

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Changes  in  Scholarship  After  Skipping  a  Grade 


COMPARISON  OF  606   NORMAL  PACE  PUPILS  WITH 
ACCELERATES   AND   ARRESTS 

The  records  of  the  pupils  who  neither  gain  nor  lose  time 
during  the  grammar  school  course  furnish  a  means  for  verify- 
ing the  conclusions  reached  from  our  study  of  the  two  extreme 
cases. 

TABLE  35 
Entrance  Ages — Percentage  of  Each  Group  in  Each  Age 


131   Honor 

Age 

Arrests 

Normals 

Accelerates 

Pupils 

Under  5  yrs. 

2  -5 

2-3 

.6 

.6 

5-5*  yrs. 

3-4 

3-4 

1-7 

.8 

5i-6       " 

21  .0 

30.0 

18.0 

31.6 

6-6  J     " 

31-4 

37-1 

37-5 

38.0 

6f-7        " 

20  .0 

19  .0 

23. S 

20  .0 

7-7*     " 

10  .0 

4.0 

8.4 

7.0 

7M       " 

6.0 

2.6 

5-0 

r  .0 

8  yrs.  or  over 

5-4 

1.6 

4-5 

I  .0 

It  will  be  noticed  that  the  entrants  under  5^  years  of  age 
furnish  5.9  per  cent  of  the  arrests,  5.7  per  cent  of  the  normal 
paced,  2.3  per  cent  of  the  accelerates,  and  only  1.4  per  cent  of 
the  honor  pupils.  We  have  seen  heretofore  that  15  per  cent 
of  all  entrants  began  grade  one  between  7  and  8  years  of  age ; 
but  they  get  only  8  per  cent  or  little  more  than  half  their  share 
of  the  honors.  Of  all  entrants  nearly  5  per  cent  were  over  8 
years  of  age  at  entrance  to  grade  one,  and  they  win  only  i 
per  cent  or  one-fifth  of  their  share  of  the  honors. 

The  average  number  of  weeks  lost  by  each  pupil  of  these 
same   four  groups   for  six  years  still   further  forces  the  con- 

47 


48 


Progress  through  the  Grades  of  City  Schools 


elusion  that  less  acceleration  is  due  to  good  teaching,  and  less 
arrest  to  poor  teaching  than  is  commonly  supposed.  Pupils 
who  repeat  two  grades  lose  on  an  average  15.70  days  per  year 
for  six  years;  repeaters  of  one  grade,  12.25  days  per  year; 
normals,  10.20  days ;  accelerates,  9.75  days ;  honor  pupils,  6.80 
days.  From  grade  two  to  eight  inclusive  the  comparative  record 
of  average  loss  is  shown  in  Table  36.  These  facts,  together 
with  similar  facts  for  grade  I,  are  shown  graphically  in  the 
curves  on  page  49. 

TABLE  36 

Average  Annual  Loss  in  Days  for  Six  Years 


Honor 

Grade 

Arrests 

Normals 

Accelerates 

Pupils 

II 

13-70 

II  .50 

10-75 

6.05 

III 

14.50 

^2.55 

9-35 

6.80 

IV 

12  .20 

10  .20 

9-50 

5  .00 

V 

12  .20 

10.05 

8.50 

6.40 

VI 

10  .50 

9.40 

10  .45 

10.25 

VII 

10  .20 

9  .20 

10.15 

6.35 

VIII 

9-25 

8.95 

9 .20 

6  .40 

Repeaters  as  a  whole  lose  26  per  cent  more  time  than  the 
accelerates.  In  the  first  five  grades  (i  to  5)  in  which  nearly 
three-fourths  of  all  the  arrests  occur,  the  repeaters  lose  43  per 
cent  more  time  than  the  gainers.  The  difference  in  weeks  if 
spread  evenly  through  all  six  years  would  mean  an  average  dif- 
ference between  the  extreme  classes  of  less  than  two  weeks  per 
year ;  but  this  is  not  the  way  the  absence  is  distributed.  It  is 
massed  in  a  few  years  for  nearly  all  individuals.  This  will  be 
better  appreciated  by  looking  at  the  comparison  of  the  propor- 
tions from  each  losing  four  or  more  weeks  in  a  single  year.  The 
facts  are  given  in  Table  37. 

The  double  arrests,  or  pupils  losing  two  different  years  during 
their  course,  show  in  general  about  one  and  one-half  times  as 
many  of  the  large  time  losses  as  the  single  arrests.  The  double 
accelerates  show  only  about  five-ninths  as  many  as  the  single 
accelerates. 


Comparison  of  Normal  Pace  Pupils  with  Accelerates         49 


Comparison  of  Total  Average  Time  Lost  by  Arrests,  Normals, 
Accelerates,  and  Hoxor  Pupils 

Arrests  

Normals 

Accelerates 

Honor 


50 


Progress  throiigh  the  Grades  of  City  Schools 


TABLE  37 

Percentage  of  Students  of  Each  Class  (Arrests,  Normals, 

ETC.)  IN  Each  Grade  Who  Were,  During  the  Year 

IN  Question,  Absent  20  Days  or  More 


Grade 

Arrests 

Normals 

Accelerates 

Honor 
Pupils 

II 

34 

24 

12 

8 

III 

36 

31 

15 

9 

VI 

20 

17 

10 

6 

V 

19 

16 

9 

5 

VI 

16 

14 

7 

5 

VII 

10 

9 

6 

4 

VIII 

23 

18 

3 

0 

The  first  line  of  the  table  reads  "  Of  every  hundred  pupils  arrested 
in  grade  two,  34  lose  four  weeks  or  more  in  the  year  of  arrest;  of 
every  hundred  normals  in  the  second  grade  24  sustain  such  loss;  while 
among  the  accelerates  of  this  grade  only  12  per  cent  lose  as  much  as 
20  days  in  the  year  of  acceleration;  of  each  hundred  honor  pupils,  8 
lose  20  days  or  more  in  the  second  grade." 


Comparison  of  eyesight  of  Normals,  Arrests,  and  Accelerates 
is  made  in  Table  38.  The  figures  in  each  column  show  the 
percentage  of  each  class  having  defective  eyes : 


TABLE  38 
Comparative  Defects  of  Vision 


Grade 

Arrests 

Normals 

Accelerates 

Honor 
Pupils 

I 

36 

26 

II 

30 

28 

14 

III 

39 

30 

15 

IV 

40 

31 

20 

V 

37 

27 

14 

VI 

40 

26 

II 

VII 

24 

18 

9 

VIII 

19 

16 

2 

IX 

16 

12 

16 

The  honor  roll  pupils  are  the  ten  with  highest  scholarship 
standings  in  each  of  thirteen  graduating  classes  coming  from 
seven  ninth  grades  one  year  and  from  six  the  other.  They 
include  63  boys  and  68  girls.  Of  these  12  boys  and  10  girls 
have  defective  eyes. 


Comparison  of  Normal  Pace  Pupils  with  Accelerates         51 

42  per  cent  of  the  dovible  arrests  have  defective  eyes 
32        "  "       arrests  "  "  " 

25        "  "        nonnals  "  "  " 

14       "  "       accelerates  "  "  " 

Two  other  contrasts  between  acceleration  and  arrest  should 
be  noticed.  They  are  the  comparative  productiveness  of  either 
of  these  conditions  by  each  age  and  grade.  What  percentage  of 
its  due  share  of  acceleration  and  arrest  does  each  grade  produce  ? 
Assembling  the  data  given  heretofore  on  pages  20  and  36,  we 
have  the  following  answer: 


TABLE  39 

Comparative  Fecundity  of  Acceleration  and  Arrest  for 
Each  Grade 


Grade  .    .        ... 

I 

II 

III 

IV 

V 

VI 

VII 

VIII 

IX 

Percentage    of  Due  Share 
of  Acceleration 

.98 

•97 

•75 

2.30 

1. 91 

1. 91 

1.25 

.62 

1. 01 

•53 
•79 

•15 
•94 

Percentage  of  Due   Share 
of  Arrest 

1. 10 

1.40 

•54 

Similarly  we  have  (from  pages  19  and  37)  the  answer  to  the 
question :  What  percentage  of  its  due  share  of  acceleration  and 
arrest  does  each  age  disclose? 


TABLE  40 

Comparative  Fecundity  of  Acceleration  and  Arrest  for 
Each  Age 


Age  .  . . 

6 

7 

8 

9 

10 

1 1 

12 

13 

14 

15 

16 

17 

Percentage 
Due     Share 
of      Accele- 
ration   

.22 

•57 

1. 16 

2.43 

r-93 

1.46 

.88 
•94 

■65 

1.08 

1.28 
.91 

.21 
1. 01 

1.9^ 

^■?^^ 

Percentage  of 
Due    Share 
of  Arrest . . . 

■79 

.80 

1. 19 

1.40 

3-75 

5  2  Progress  throtigh  the  Grades  of  City  Schools 

Table  40  discloses  a  marked  element  of  agreement  with  Table 
39.  It  emphasizes  the  variability  of  the  period  at  or  just  before 
the  middle  of  the  common  school  course.  The  third,  fourth,  and 
fifth  grades  present  the  exceptionally  large  share  of  both  accel- 
erates and  arrests.  So  too  the  ninth  and  tenth  years  of  age 
produce  an  undue  share  of  both.  Three  grades  just  before  and 
at  the  middle  of  the  course  and  two  ages  just  before  the  middle 
of  the  course  mark  the  period  of  extreme  variability. 

But  Table  40  shows  an  undue  proportion  of  accelerates  as 
young  as  seven  years  and  eight  years  of  age.  As  the  other  end 
of  the  age  line,  in  the  year  15,  16,  and  17,  is  found  a  very 
high  proportion  of  arrests.  The  former,  the  six-year-old  and 
seven-3^ear-old  accelerates,  are  the  ready  able  pupils  who  enter 
young  and  disclose  their  nature  and  capacity  just  as  soon  as 
they  master  the  first  processes  of  the  school.  The  latter  are 
the  pupils  of  low  or  slow  mentality  who  enter  late  and  are 
kept  in  school  because  they  are  not  the  kind  for  whom  there 
is  any  special  call  in  the  business  and  industrial  world. 

As  a  test  of  the  representative  character  of  these  results  a 
similar  comparison  was  made  of  the  production  or  disclosure 
of  acceleration  between  the  613  accelerates  represented  in  Tables 
23  and  24,  and  the  1,239  accelerates  of  Section  II.  The  follow- 
ing are  the  results : 

TABLE  41 

Comparison  of  Due  Share  of  Acceleration  in  Each  Grade 

FOR  THE  1,239  Accelerates  of  Section  II  and  the 

613  OF  Section  III 


Grades 

I 

II 

III 

IV 

V 

VI 

VII 

VIII 

IX 

Percentage  of  Due   Share 
for  the  I  239 

0 
0 

97 
97.6 

170 
230 

168 
191 

168 
191 

74 
62 

64 

53 

13 
15 

0 

Percentage  of  Due   Share 
for  the  61  ^       

0 

The  showings  for  grades  one,  two,  eight,  and  nine  are  prac- 
tically identical.  The  results  for  grades  three,  four,  and  five 
in  both  groups  agree  in  disclosing  these  three  grades  as  especially 
prolific  of  acceleration.  The  fact  that  the  proportion  of  gainers 
in  grades  six  and  seven  is  larger  among  the  1,239  comprising 
all  the  accelerates  for  three  vears  without  regard  to  the  number 


Comparison  of  Normal  Pace  Pupils  with  Accelerates         53 

of  years  they  have  been  in  the  system,  than  for  the  613  who 
had  been  more  than  six  years  in  the  system,  is  readily  explained. 
Many  of  the  first  group  came  to  these  schools  from  cities  or 
countries  where  no  especial  provision  was  made  for  the  ready 
or  gifted  group.  They  were  often  over-age  for  the  grades  they 
were  able  to  enter.  They  made  gains  in  grades  six  and  seven, 
which  with  earlier  provision  for  free  progress  they  would  have 
made  in  the  earlier  grades. 

The  possible  influence  of  the  non-English  speaking  home  on 
the  make-up  of  the  four  groups  is  shown  in 

TABLE  42 

Percentage  of  Arrests,  Accelerates,  Normals,  and  Honor 

Pupils  Who  Are  Children  of  Non-English 

Speaking  Races 


Grade 

I 

II 

III 

VI 

V 

VI 

VII 

VIII 

IX 

Aver. 

Arrests 

Normals 

Accelerates 

52 
24 

50 
29 

24 

42 
25 

49 
32 
14 

41 
32 

20 

27 
24 
23 

43 
28 

9 

28 

29 

2 

21 
19 

41.5 
27-5 
17-5 
27.0 

Honor  pupils 

To  test  mathematically  the  correlation  of  deportment  and 
scholarship,  a  random  drawing  of  the  records  of  twenty  double 
arrests,  two  hundred  single  arrests,  two  hundred  normals,  two 
hundred  single  accelerates,  and  twenty  double  accelerates  was 
made,  to  secure  a  group  representative  in  number  and  distribu- 
tion of  the  whole  group.  A  complete  set  of  correlation  tables 
was  prepared  and  the  coefficients  of  correlation  calculated  on  the 
basis  of  the  formula,  R  =  Cos.  ttU.  For  the  use  of  readers 
interested  in  mental  measurements  and  familiar  with  the  mathe- 
matics of  correlation  all  these  tables  and  the  diagrams  illustra- 
tive of  the  source  are  printed  in  the  Appendix  to  this  study. 

In  examining  the  tables  and  graphs  illustrating  the  variation 
in  scholarship  after  skipping  a  grade,  several  things  should  be 
kept  in  mind.  First,  almost  all  accelerates  have  A  and  B  rank- 
ings in  the  two  years  preceding  the  double  promotion.  This  is 
the  evidence  that  warrants  candidacy  for  acceleration.  Second, 
A,  B,  or  C  rankings  are  all  creditable  standings.  Third,  A  is 
an   undistributed   maximum.      Fourth,   for   double   j^romotion   a 


54 


Progress  through  the  Grades  of  City  Schools 


grade  of  A  is  usually  required.  This  being  the  case,  a  pupil 
may  almost  never  be  able  to  surpass  after  acceleration  his  stand- 
ing in  the  last  grade  before  acceleration.  Fifth,  to  finish  the 
course  in  seven  years  with  a  C  standing  may  be  a  better  per- 
formance than  to  do  it  in  eight  years  with  a  B  standing  or 
to  do  it  in  nine  years  with  an  A  ranking.  Therefore  the  tend- 
ency of  accelerates  as  a  class  rarely  to  drop  more  than  one 
full  rank  lower  and  after  two  years  to  very  nearly  or  quite 
regain  the  maximum  standing,  is  noteworthy.  It  is  almost  the 
exact  reverse  of  the  history  made  by  the  arrests.  The  influence 
on  standing  of  either  skipping  or  repeating  a  grade  is  temporary. 
In  summarizing  this  section  then,  it  may  be  pointed  out  that 
the  normals  are  not  only  the  middle  class  in  point  of  the  success 
with  which  they  meet  the  duties,  tasks,  and  difficulties  of  the 
conventional  program  of  city  schools ;  but  they  are,  as  a  class,  in 
the  middle  position  so  far  as  physical  and  economic  condition 
is  concerned.  This  will  be  more  clearly  seen  from  the  following 
assembly  of  the  chief  points  of  comparison. 


TABLE  43 

Comparison  of  the  Normals  with  the  Other  Classes 
In  Per  Cents 


Arrests 

NoiTnals 

Accele- 
rates 

Honors 

Median  age  at  entrance  to  Grade  i 

6.2 

6.2 

6.4 

6.2 

Per  cent  entering  under  5^  yrs.  old 

5-9 

5-7 

-  -3 

I  .4 

Per  cent  entering  over  7^-  yrs.  old 

II  .4 

4.2 

9-5 

2  .0 

Average  annual  loss  in  days 

12.3 

10  .2 

9-7 

6.8 

Per  cent  losing  4  wks.  or  more  in 
some  one  year           

76.6 

68.4 

66.6 

4S  -3 

Per  cent  with  defective  eyes 

32. 

25  • 

14. 

16. 

Per  cent  changing  schools  in  the 

40. 

26. 

14. 

0  . 

Per  cent  from  non-English  speak- 
ing homes      

40  . 

27  .  S 

17  • 

27. 

Average   deportment   ranking   for 
6  years              

86. 

86.6 

92  . 

9S  • 

Per  cent  of  each  class  in  the  system 

24  . 

.16. 

30- 

VI 
STUDY   OF   131    HONOR   PUPILS 

Some  special  observations  of  the  records  of  the  honor  pupils 
will  help  us  to  understand  better  the  character  of  the  accelerates. 
The  honor  pupils  are  the  ten  with  highest  scholarship  records 
in  each  graduating  class  or  department.  Each  department  repre- 
sents in  the  years  under  consideration  about  40  pupils,  rarely 
including  45,  and  is  comprised  on  the  average  of  about  equal 
numbers  of  boys  and  girls.  These  are  in  ability,  then,  the  top 
quarter  of  the  graduates  of  the  school.  They  include  a  large 
proportion  of  the  pupils  who  win  honors  in  high  school,  normal, 
and  other  technical  school  and  college.  It  will  accordingly  be 
illuminating  to  discover  how  they  compare  with  accelerates  in 
general. 

The  thirteen  honor  rolls  included  131  pupils,  there  being  one 
tie  for  tenth  place  in  one  of  the  departments.  Of  these.  68  were 
girls  and  63  boys.  They  were  distributed  among  the  groups 
that  have  been  considered  as  follows : 

TABLE  44 

Triple  Accelerates 2  girls  and  2  boys 

Double  Accelerates 12  "  "  10 

Single  Accelerates 33  "  "  27 

Total  Number  of  Accelerates 47  "  "  39 

Total  Number  of  Normals 19  "  "  24 

Arrests 2  "  "  o 

Double  Arrests o  "  "  o 

Two  honor  girls  sufifered  arrest  in  the  fourth  and  seventh 
grades  respectively,  owing  to  protracted  illness  compelling  each 
to  lose  the  major  fraction  of  an  entire  school  year.  The  girl 
who  was  arrested  in  the  seventh  grade  had  theretofore  been  a 
high  rank  pupil  having  become  an  accelerate  at  the  close  of 
her  third  year  in  school. 

While  accelerate  graduates  as  a  whole  complete  the  nine-year 
course  in  7.9  years,  the  honor  pupils  use  8.1  years.    Among  the 

55 


56  Progress  through  the  Grades  of  City  Schools 

honor  pupils  are  four  who  complete  the  work  in  6  years,  twenty- 
two  who  complete  it  in  7  years,  and  sixty  who  complete  it  in 
8  years.  Only  forty-four  take  9  full  years,  and  but  one  takes 
10  years.  The  average  age  at  graduation  for  all  graduating 
accelerates  is  13.9  years  and  for  honor  roll  accelerates  it  is 
13.8  years. 

Not  only  do  the  accelerates  save  time,  but  they  maintain, 
despite  their  shorter  opportunity,  higher  scholarship  ranking 
than  those  who  take  from  one  year  to  three  years  longer  to 
complete  the  same  work.  Comprising  considerably  less  than 
one-third  of  the  pupils,  they  still  win  nearly  two-thirds  of  the 
honors. 

Their  high  stand  as  a  rule  is  maintained  despite  the  fact  that 
45  per  cent  of  them  lose  more  than  four  weeks'  time  during 
some  one  year.  They  are  more  resistant  to  disease  than  either 
of  the  other  groups,  and  have  fewer  illnesses  to  keep  them  from 
school  for  protracted  periods.  When  illness  does  come,  they 
are  able  on  their  return  to  school  to  regain  the  lost  time  and 
ground.  Free  opportunity  and  special  help  to  exercise  their  own 
native  powers  enable  them  to  maintain  themselves  in  the  position 
to  which  they  were  born,  and  which  the  home  and  the  school  have 
helped  them  to  value.  It  will  be  noted  that  these  pupils  do 
not  change  school  within  one  year  before  entrance  on  the  last 
grade  of  the  grammar  school  course. 

The  non-English  speaking  homes  win  27  per  cent  of  these 
honor  places.  We  have  seen  heretofore  that  these  have  but  17 
per  cent  of  all  the  accelerates.  But  they  have  27.5  of  the  nor- 
mals. It  seems  clear  that  the  farther  these  pupils  go,  the  more 
completely  they  overcome  the  linguistic  handicap.  Remembering 
that  accelerates  are  high  grade  pupils,  and  that  honors  are  the 
highest  grade  pupils,  these  figures  may  be  interpreted  as  follows : 

The  non-English  speaking  homes  with  only  17  per  cent  of 
the  high  grade  pupils  are  to  be  credited  when  the  end  of  the 
course  is  reached,  with  2y  per  cent  of  the  highest  grade  pupils. 
Is  it  because  they  value  such  distinction  more,  and  accordingly 
work  the  harder  to  secure  it?  Is  it  because  they  respond  more 
constantly  to  the  growing  demands  of  the  school?  Is  it  in  part 
because  of  the  absence  of  reluctance   (so  often  expressed   in 


Study  of  iji  Honor  Pupils  57 

American  homes)  to  let  the  girls  try  the  extra  work  suggested 
by  the  school?  Whatever  the  cause,  the  facts  are  worth  con- 
sidering. 

The  condition  of  the  eyes  of  honor  pupils,  while  superior  to 
that  of  normals  and  still  more  so  to  that  of  arrests,  is  shown 
(see  Table  43,  p.  54)  to  be  somewhat  worse  than  that  of  accel- 
erates in  general.  The  latter  have  only  14  per  cent  with  defec- 
tive eyes  while  16  per  cent  of  the  honor  pupils  show  such  defects. 
The  difference  is  slight  but  it  is  worth  marking.  The  visual 
deficiencies  of  these  pupils  are  not  only  greater  than  those  of 
accelerates  in  general,  but  greater  than  those  of  normals  in  the 
ninth  grade  and  exactly  the  same  as  normals  in  the  eighth 
grade  and  arrests  in  the  ninth  grade.  Of  course  it  will 
be  recognized  that  the  improved  visual  showing  in  every  class 
each  year  after  the  sixth  grade  is  passed  may  be  due  to  elimina- 
tion. After  reaching  the  age  and  grade  where  the  compulsory 
education  statutes  cease  to  operate,  it  may  well  happen  that 
the  visual  defectives  are  an  undue  proportion  of  those  who  leave 
school. 

The  disturbing  element  is  that  while  the  quantity  of  such 
defect  is  not  high,  it  is  nevertheless  higher  than  that  of  accel- 
erates in  general  and  much  higher  than  that  among  accelerates 
of  the  seventh  and  eighth  grades  (9  per  cent  and  2  per  cent).  Is 
there  anything  in  the  work  of  the  eighth  grade  to  stimulate  this 
condition  or  is  it  incident  to  the  beginning  of  adolescence? 


VII 
CONCLUSIONS 

Potential  accelerates  are  present  in  our  schools  in  very  large 
numbers,  comprising  from  one-fourth  to  one-third  of  all  pupils 
above  the  first  grade.  The  average  accelerate,  under  favorable 
conditions,  has  the  capacity  to  gain  from  one  year  in  seven  to 
two  years  in  nine  of  the  traditional  city  school  course.  The 
number  of  such  pupils  is  so  considerable  as  to  demand  that 
special  provision  be  made  in  every  school  system  for  freeing 
their  progress  through  the  schools.  This  service,  whether  it 
is  to  be  rendered  by  special  teachers  or  special  classes  and  in 
a  differentiated  curriculum,  is  too  important  for  society  to 
neglect.  While  protection  against  the  subnormal  is  important, 
and  genuine  training  for  the  rank  and  file  is  imperative  under 
any  form  of  government,  the  proper  care  and  culture  of  the 
element  that  is  to  furnish  leadership  in  all  our  activities  is  the 
most  important  educational  function  of  a  democracy. 

The  experience  under  consideration  shows  that  under  the 
conditions  described  the  middle  grades  of  our  schools  are  places 
of  large  opportunity  for  giving  the  superior  pupil  a  chance  to 
work  up  to  the  healthful  limit  of  his  better  powers.  Less  than 
this  is  not  education  in  the  true  sense.  The  median  point  of  op- 
portunity for  all  accelerates  is  the  fourth  grade.  For  those  who 
go  on  to  the  end  of  the  grammar  school  course  the  median  is 
found  in  the  sixth  grade  and  the  mode  in  the  seventh.  In  a 
free  organization  the  better  pupils  gather  headway  as  they  pro- 
ceed. The  more  they  accomplish  the  more  they  are  still  able 
to  accomplish.  Of  all  those  who  gain  grades,  more  than  nine- 
tenths  hold  the  ground  they  gain.  The  few  that  subsequently 
lose  are  so  distributed  as  to  assure  that  there  is  no  grade  from 
the  second  to  the  seventh  that  is  necessarily  unfavorable  to 
acceleration. 

58 


Conclusions  59 

More  boys  than  girls  are  found  in  the  ranks  of  the  accelerates. 
The  former  are  32  per  cent  more  numerous  when  all  are  con- 
sidered and  86  per  cent  more  numerous  when  only  those  who 
go  on  to  the  completion  of  the  grammar  school  course  are  consid- 
ered. (See  Tables  4  and  6.)  This  difference  is  in  part  doubtless 
due  to  three  causes  :  ( i )  the  greater  readiness  with  which  the  con- 
ventional arrangements  of  the  fixed  school  organization  are  ac- 
cepted by  girls,  and  for  girls  by  their  parents;  (2)  the  greater 
solicitude  for  the  health  of  the  girls,  causing  parents  and  teachers 
alike  to  hesitate  about  permitting  them  to  do  the  extra  work;  (3) 
the  stronger  call  which  colleges,  careers,  professions,  business 
and  economic  pressure  make  on  the  capable  boy.  All  girls  who 
make  gains  maintain  them  as  well  or  better  than  the  boys. 

The  age  of  entrance  to  school  has  a  definite  bearing  on  the 
chances  for  acceleration.  The  average  entrance  age  for  pupils 
thus  successful  is  5.9  years ;  the  median,  6.3  years.  These  pupils 
graduate  from  the  grammar  schools  at  an  average  age  of  13.9 
years,  with  a  median  of  14.3  years.  More  than  67  per  cent 
graduate  before  or  during  their  fourteenth  year.  Too  early 
entry  is  not  favorable  to  acceleration.  Of  entrants  to  grade  one 
who  are  under  five  years  of  age  only  one  in  nine  ever  gains 
a  grade.  One  in  every  six  entrants  between  5  and  5]/^  years 
old  makes  such  gain  ;  between  55^  and  6  years,  one  in  every 
four ;  and  over  6  years,  one  in  every  three  gains  a  year  at  some 
time  during  the  course. 

There  are  three  ages  especially  favorable  to  acceleration.  The 
eight-year-olds  win  nearly  two  and  one-half  times  their  due 
share  of  the  double  promotions  ;  the  nine-year-olds,  nearly  twice 
their  share;  the  ten-year-olds,  nearly  one  and  one-half  times 
their  share. 

Similarly  three  grades  are  especially  fecund  of  acceleration. 
The  third  grade  has  two  and  one-third  times  its  due  share ;  the 
fourth  and  fifth  each  nearly  twice  its  share. 

Accelerates  seem  to  be  found  in  families.  This  experience 
disclosed  6.8  per  cent  of  the  families  producing  24  per  cent 
of  the  accelerates.  Blood  and  family  tradition  prompted  many 
of  these  just  as  the  discovery  and  inspiration  of  the  teacher 
incited  others. 

Accelerates  incur  less  absence  on  the  whole  than  other  pupils ; 
but  this   difference  is  not  nearly   so   large   as  commonly   sup- 


6o  Progress  through  the  Grades  of  City  Schools 

posed.  They  are  fortunate,  however,  in  one  hearing  of  their 
attendance.  They  are  the  pupils  of  higher  physical  resistance, 
or  better  nurture,  or  both ;  and  avoid  a  part  of  the  prolonged 
absence  caused  by  the  contagious  diseases  of  childhood.  The 
larger  avoidance  of  absences  of  much  more  than  four  weeks 
in  a  single  year,  is  one  of  the  characteristics  of  the  accelerate 
class. 

The  possible  injurious  effect  of  acceleration  on  subsequent 
scholarship  is  often  suggested  and  not  infrequently  declared. 
The  facts  seem  to  furnish  little  or  no  warrant  for  the  sug- 
gestion or  assumption.  Not  only  do  accelerates  as  a  rule  main- 
tain their  ground  but  they  maintain  high  scholarship.  When 
it  is  remembered  that  double  promotion  is  won  by  securing  a 
scholarship  standing  somewhere  in  the  undistributed  maximum 
of  the  grade,  it  would  not  be  strange  if  accelerates  dropped  at 
least  two  full  ranks  in  scholarship  in  the  year  immediately  sub- 
sequent to  acceleration.  The  fact  is  that  accelerates  as  a  class 
never  drop  two  ranks  and  rarely  one,  and  that  each  succeeding 
year  sees  their  steady  climb  back  toward  the  maximum  scholar- 
ship ranking.  Some  gain  a  second,  and  some  a  third  double 
promotion.  Many  teachers  are  especially  anxious  to  have  the 
pupils  who  have  just  earned  a  double  promotion  assigned  to 
their  rooms.  To  them  the  liberated  child  is  more  promising 
and  interesting  than  the  regular  who  has  spent  the  prescribed 
time  in  every  grade. 

Arrests  are  present  in  all  schools  having  a  uniform  course 
of  study,  no  matter  how  free  the  organization,  nor  how  efficient 
and  numerous  the  agencies  for  prevention  of  arrest.  The  ex- 
perience studied  showed  that  24.9  per  cent  of  all  the  pupils  en- 
rolled in  grades  one  to  nine  w^ere  repeaters  at  some  time  in 
their  school  course  and  that  29.6  per  cent  of  all  pupils  enrolled 
between  grades  one  and  nine  were  accelerates  at  some  place 
in  the  course.  The  provision  for  special  care  of  the  less  gifted 
or  less  fortunate,  of  the  enforced  absentees  after  their  return, 
of  those  of  low  or  slow  mentality,  undoubtedly  kept  the  number 
of  arrests  nearer  the  possible  minimum  than  is  ordinarily  done. 
It  is  probable  that  ordinarily  between  one-fourth  and  one-third 
of  all  pupils  enrolled  become  arrests,  at  some  time  in  their 
school  course.  Much  of  this  is  inevitable  and  possibly  unavoid- 
able under  any  plan  of  procedure.     Nature  and  uncontrollable 


Conclusions  6i 

environment  determine  it ;  but  so  far  as  it  is  avoidable  waste 
of  human  endeavor  and  human  life,  it  ought  to  be  prevented  by 
special  classes,  special  teachers,  special  curricula,  by  any  or  all 
of  these  agencies  and  others. 

In  this  connection  it  is  well  to  note  that  the  large  spread 
of  the  ages  in  any  one  grade  so  often  complained  about  can 
never  be  removed  or  much  reduced  until  provision  is  made 
for  saving  arrest  and  promoting  acceleration.  If  a  few  pupils 
five  years  old  and  a  few  eight  years  old  are  found  along  with 
the  six-year-olds  and  the  seven-year-olds  of  every  hundred  first 
grade  pupils,  the  age  distribution  of  grade  one  may  run  some- 
thing like  this : 

Age 5  yrs.     6  yrs.     7  yrs.     8  yrs. 

Number  of  Pupils 17  58  19  6 

Suppose  three  of  these  five-year-old  entrants  gain  a  year, 
and  only  two  of  the  eight-year-old  entrants  lose  a  year  on  the 
way  to  grade  five,  a  very  easy  piece  of  history  to  duplicate  in 
many  places.     Then  the  distribution  in  grade  five  becomes : 

Age 8  yrs.     9  yrs.     10  yrs.    11  yrs.    12  yrs.    13  yrs. 

Number  of  Pupils.  3  15  57  18  5  2 

The  spread  of  the  ages  has  gone  from  four  years  in  grade 
one  to  six  years  in  grade  five.  Had  a  few  bright  healthy  young- 
sters under  five  and  a  few  unfortunate  nine-year-olds  of  low 
mentality  been  added  to  the  extremes  of  first  grade  enrollment, 
the  same  experience  would  have  given  us  a  spread  of  seven  or 
eight  years  in  grades  four  and  five. 

Mere  spread  of  ages  like  over-ageness  is  not,  in  and  of  itself, 
any  evidence  that  the  school  is  derelict  in  its  treatment  of  pupils 
or  stupid  in  its  organization.  The  spread  of  seven  years  in 
grade  two,  which  has  without  undue  elimination  or  arrest  been 
reduced  to  five  years  in  grade  six,  may  be  the  best  evidence  that 
the  school  is  meeting  and  understanding  its  children  and  helping 
them  to  find  themselves.  The  fact  that  two  eight-year-olds  and 
two  nine-year-olds  appear  on  a  given  first  grade  roll  is  not  in 
itself  any  suggestion  of  a  poor  school.  Two  may  be  worthy 
representatives  of  the  best  blood  and  brains  in  town,  from  homes 
with  positive,  even  if  not  the  wisest,  notions  about  starting 
children  to  school.  Two  may  only  last  month  have  arrived  from 
a  section  of  Russia  without  any  facilities  for  education.     Tf  the 


6  2  Progress  through  tlie  Grades  of  City  Schools 

school  holds  these  boys  and  gets  them  to  high  school  at  fifteen 
or  to  college  at  nineteen  there  is  much  to  comfort  the  school- 
master and  nothing  of  discredit  to  the  school.  These  four  may 
have  been  retardations,  but  they  were  never  arrests.  Blindness 
to  the  facts  of  a  certain  measure  of  necessary  and  unavoidable 
over-ageness  and  also  of  arrest,  was  the  occasion  of  the  historic 
commotion  that  met  the  first  studies  of  retardation  and 
elimination. 

Arrest  is  most  likely  to  follow  too  early  or  too  late  entrance 
to  school.  Fifty  per  cent  of  all  children  who  enter  grade  one 
before  the  age  of  five  years,  meet  arrest  at  some  place  in  the 
course ;  likewise  46  per  cent  of  those  entering  between  seven 
and  seven  and  one-half  years ;  and  49  per  cent  of  all  entrants 
over  seven  and  one-half  years,  become  arrests. 

Certain  ages  are  particularly  marked  by  arrest.  Pupils,  who 
do  not  graduate  at  or  before  the  age  of  fifteen  years,  are  most 
likely  to  meet  arrest.  Fifteen-year-olds  have  nearly  twice  their 
proportionate  share  of  repeaters ;  sixteen-year-olds,  three  and 
one-third  times  their  share;  and  seventeen-year-olds,  three  and 
three-fourths  times  their  due  share.  But  these  three  ages  con- 
stitute only  a  small  part  of  all  enrollments.  Between  the  ages 
of  five  and  fifteen  where  nearly  all  the  pupils  are  found,  the 
years  of  especial  liability  to  arrest  are  the  ninth,  tenth,  eleventh, 
and  twelfth. 

So,  too,  grades  three,  four,  and  five  are  particularly  produc- 
tive of  arrest,  just  as  they  were  particularly  productive  of 
acceleration.  These  three  grades  presenting  the  extremes  of 
variability  as  they  do,  would  seem  to  need  the  most  skilled  and 
sympathetic  teachers  possessed  of  clear  vision  of  the  nature 
of  the  special  problem  these  grades  present,  and  constant  in 
the  endeavor  to  solve  the  riddle  and  serve  the  child. 

Just  as  more  boys  than  girls  were  found  among  the  accel- 
erates, so,  too,  more  boys  than  girls  fail  of  promotion  and  are 
required  to  repeat  grades. 

Prolonged  absence  from  school  is  an  appreciable  factor  in  pro- 
ducing arrest  especially  when  it  amounts  to  more  than  twenty- 
five  days  in  one  school  year.  Up  to  twenty-five  days,  60  per 
cent  of  the  absentees  on  their  return  make  up  for  the  lost  time 
and  maintain  their  grade.  With  from  25  to  45  days  of  absence, 
there  is  still  left  one  chance  in  two  for  avoiding  arrest.     Just 


Conclusions  63 

as  many  of  these  absentees  succeed  in  keeping  the  pace,  as  lail 
and  fall  behind.  When  the  absence  rises  to  fifty  days  or  more, 
there  is  only  one  chance  in  four  to  avoid  arrest. 

Seventy-six  per  cent  of  all  arrests  lose  four  weeks  or  more 
some  one  year  in  seven.  Sixty-eight  per  cent  of  all  nonrjals, 
and  sixty-six  per  cent  of  all  accelerates  sustain  such  large  loss, 
which  is  almost  invariably  the  result  of  illness  and  most  fre- 
quently that  of  contagious  disease.  So  only  better  municipal, 
school,  and  household  sanitation  can  secure  much  abatement 
of  this  cause  of  arrest. 

Change  of  school,  low  deportment,  and  poor  eyes  are  three 
factors  correlated  with  arrest.  The  non-English  speaking  home 
furnishes  an  undue  proportion  of  the  repeaters.  Arrest,  like 
acceleration,  marks  certain  families  as  its  own,  j.j  per  cent  of 
the  families  producing  24.5  per  cent  of  the  arrests.  While 
such  arrests  as  these  are  often  manifestly  marked  by  nature 
for  the  part,  there  are  others  whose  repetitions  we  attribute 
to  special  studies. 

There  is  a  popular  notion  that  weakness  in  one  subject,  or 
occasionally  inTwo,  causes  the  arrest.  Weakness  in  all  subjects 
caused  28  per  cent  of  the  failures;  16  per  cent  more  passed 
in  nothing  but  spelling.  Nearly  half  of  all  the  arrests  therefore 
have  utterly  no  adaptation  to  the  traditional  curriculum.  Pos- 
sibly no  modified  curriculum  would  serve  at  once  properly  to 
occupy  and  exercise  these  arrests  and  furnish  respectable  mental 
training  for  normals  and  accelerates.  Mathematics  occasions  13 
per  cent  of  the  failures.  Mathematics  together  with  either  his- 
tory, geography,  or  grammar  causes  18  per  cent;  and  mathe- 
matics together  with  some  two  of  these,  causes  14  per  cent  more. 

Repeating  a  grade  does  not  result  in  any  permanent  improve- 
ment of  the  scholarship  of  the  arrest.  There  is  usually  some 
improvement  the  next  year  after  the  repeating.  Then  comes  a 
loss  of  at  least  half  of  all  that  had  been  gained ;  and  the  third 
year  finds  the  arrest  back  to  his  old  level  of  low  scholarship.  Of 
the  whole  number  of  arrests,  21  per  cent  do  better  after  re- 
peating than  before ;  39  per  cent  show  no  change ;  and  40  per 
cent  actually  do  worse. 

This  is  clearly  evidence  that  current  organization  of  schools 
fails  to  meet  the  condition  of  the  backward  children  in  our 
schools.     To  go  at  a  pace  to  which  they  are  unequal,  even  with 


64  Progress  through  the  Grades  of  City  Schools 

the  help  and  oversight  of  special  teachers,  and  then  to  return 
and  spend  another  year  on  the  same  work  with  children  younger 
and  of  better  capacity,  and  for  whom  the  subject  matter  has 
not  been  robbed  of  its  interest,  is  not  the  solution  of  the  problem. 

There  is  every  evidence  that  we  must  accept  arrests  and 
accelerates  as  special  classes  and  treat  them  accordingly.  Our 
current  schemes  of  organization  and  treatment  are  inadequate 
because  we  insist  that  they  are  not  special  classes.  They  do 
not  differ  from  the  others  in  kind,  but  only  in  degree,  urges  the 
defender  of  the  present.  But  a  large  number  of  those  in  schools 
for  the  blind  differ  from  other  children  only  in  degree  of  power 
to  see.  Most  differences  in  either  human  quality  or  human  class 
are  resolvable  into  dift'erences  in  the  quantity  of  some  power 
or  capacity.  No  one  doubts  that  under  any  scheme  of  organiza- 
tion and  teaching  we  would  still  have  our  present  arrests  as 
slow  children  or  weak  children.  We  would  still  have  our 
accelerates  as  a  clearly  discernible  gifted  group.  Both  groups 
would  as  now  merge  into  our  present  middle  group  of  normals. 
This  is  the  problem  we  must  face.  The  purpose  of  this  study 
may  be  attained  if  some  of  the  conditions  of  the  problem  have 
been  made  manifest. 

But  there  are  some  implications  of  the  evidence  under  exam- 
ination that  warrant  some  tentative  conclusions  as  to  needed 
modification  of  current  schemes  if  we  would  adjust  the  public 
school  to  the  gifted  children  and  to  the  backward  children,  who 
together  constitute  almost,  if  not  more  than,  half  the  enrollment 
in  our  public  schools. 

Numerous  attempts  have  been  made  to  meet  the  situation. 
The  Pueblo  Plan,  the  Batavia  Plan,  the  Cambridge  Plan,  the 
Denver  Plan,  the  Baltimore  Plan,  and  the  St.  Louis  Plan  are 
six  of  the  best  types  of  the  many  earnest  attempts  made  to  free 
progress  through  the  grades.  There  is  an  extensive  literature 
setting  forth  these  and  other  schemes  of  solution,  a  bibliography 
of  which  appears  in  the  appendix  to  this  study. ^ 

All  these  attempts  met  with  much  success.  The}'  have  gone 
as  far  on  the  road  to  complete  success  as  they  can  w  ithout  taking 


^All  of  these  have  been  critically  characterized  by   Emmet   E.   Giltner 
in  a  Master's  thesis  in  Teachers  College.  Columbia  University,  in   1907. 


Conclusions  65 

into  account  two  facts.  First,  they  accept  as  a  fixed  condition 
of  the  problem  one  feature  of  current  organization  that  forbids 
the  best  achievement,  vis.,  the  unvarying  uniform  curriculum. 
Second,  they  ignore  the  fact  that  the  backward  and  the  gifted, 
the  arrests  and  the  accelerates  of  the  study,  are  definite  human 
classes,  psychologically  and  biologically  conditioned. 

All  attempted  to  free  the  individual  in  the  mass,  without 
rescuing  him  from  the  mass.  All  pupils  were  sooner  or  later 
to  complete  the  same  curriculum.  The  same  lessons,  books, 
topics  and  processes  were  ultimately  to  be  mastered,  each  pupil 
being  both  allowed  and  required  to  work  at  the  top  of  his  bent 
and  no  faster.  This  giving  the  pupil  his  own  time,  whether 
longer  or  shorter,  in  which  to  do  the  work  was  a  prodigious 
step  forward.  But  it  took  no  account  of  the  pupils  who  could 
not  do  the  prescribed  standard  of  work  in  any  time.  They  at 
the  proper  moment  eliminated  themselves  from  the  situation. 

It  also  took  no  account  of  the  fact  that  best  development 
comes  to  the  superior  pupil,  as  to  others,  by  being  kept  at 
work  equal  to  his  power.  To  do  comparatively  easy  work  in 
the  ordinary  time  without  great  effort  is  the  way  to  become  an 
intellectual  saunterer.  To  do  comparatively  easy  work  in  quick 
time  is  not  the  equivalent  of  being  compelled  to  do  one's  utmost. 
It  is  the  way  to  intellectual  vainglory.  Education  is  training 
for  the  supreme  exertion,  through  exercise  in  doing  one's  in- 
creasing best  in  quality  and  quantity,  under  conditions  that 
makes  doing  one's  best  supremely  worth  while.  The  curriculum 
made  for  the  average  student  and  administered  for  the  average 
student,  does  not  suffice  for  the  gifted. 

The  demand  therefore  is  for  a  differentiated  curriculum  in- 
volving adjustment  to  arrest,  to  normal,  and  to  accelerate.  This 
is  to  be  added  to  the  measures  provided  in  the  ])lans  lieretofore 
referred  to.  If  for  example  these  were  added  to  the  Cambridge 
possibility  of  completing  the  course  in  six,  seven,  eight,  or  nine 
years,  the  feature  of  a  curriculum  with  a  minimum,  a  mean, 
and  a  maximum  requirement,  one  of  the  two  conditions  that 
have  produced  eliminates,  arrests,  saunterers.  and  intellectual 
prigs  in  spite  of  us,  would  have  disappeared.  It  is  just  as  impor- 
tant that  some  gifted  pupils  be  not  ready  for  the  trade  school 
or  the  office  or  the  shop  until  sixteen  as  that  others  shall  be  so 


66  Progress  through  the  Grades  of  City  Schools 

ready  at  fourteen.  It  is  just  as  important  that  some  bright  pupils 
shall  not  be  ready  for  high  school  until  fifteen,  and  not  ready 
to  leave  home  for  college  until  nineteen  as  it  is  that  others  should 
be  so  prepared  at  thirteen  and  seventeen.  This  should  be 
accomplished  without  marking  time  in  the  one  case  or  overdoing 
in  the  other.  Such  results  can  not  be  obtained  without  the  differ- 
entiated  course  of   study. 

But  how  shall  the  differentiated  course  of  study  be  admin- 
istered? Arrests,  normals,  and  accelerates  we  shall  have  forever 
with  us.  They  are  born  into  this  w'orld,  and  since  the  public 
schools  are  for  all  the  children  of  all  the  people,  they  will  come 
into  the  public  schools.  Equality  of  opportunity  is  what  we 
owe  them.  That  means  opportunity  for  a  normal  to  do  a  nor- 
mal's best,  to  make  the  most  of  himself,  to  some  day  pass 
into  the  accelerate  class  if  perchance  he  belonged  near  the  mar- 
gin of  that  class.  It  means  opportunity  for  an  arrest  to  strive 
for  his  best  self-realization  through  using  the  pov/ers  of  an 
arrest,  on  exercises  and  processes  planned  for  him  and  not 
for  a  normal. 

The  sympathy  of  professional  students  of  teaching  and  school 
administration,  is  stirred  and  voiced  for  the  slow  child  now  con- 
fessedly sacrificed  in  our  schools  with  uniform  courses  of  study 
built  for  the  average  child.  But  the  difficulty  is  not  one  of 
method  alone ;  it  calls  for  re-organization  of  the  curriculum.  And 
again  let  it  be  remembered  that  the  greatest  sacrifice  is  the  one 
that  rouses  the  least  concern.  The  wickedest  as  well  as  the 
greatest  retardation  or  arrest  in  our  schools,  is  that  of  the  accel- 
erate who  is  held  for  eight  or  nine  years,  sauntering  through  the 
course  he  ought  to  work  through  in  six  or  seven. 

Think  of  the  cruelty  of  current  schemes  for  the  strong  gifted 
boy  who  aspires  to  be  a  physician  or  a  surgeon.  He  may  not 
enter  school  until  six  years  old.  The  course  is  nine  years.  What 
matter  that  he  could  get  well  ready  for  any  good  secondary 
school  in  six  3'ears.  He  is  ready  at  fifteen ;  and  that  means  ready 
for  college  at  nineteen,  for  medical  college  at  twenty-three,  for 
hospital  at  twenty-seven.  He  may  therefore  begin  to  practice 
his  profession  at  twenty-nine  or  thirty.  What  wonder  that  under 
economic  pressure,  and  the  lack  of  adjustment  of  the  school  to 
the  needs  of  the  gifted,  we  are  tempting  so  many  superior  young 


Conclusions  67 

men  to  go  without  the  training  that  makes  for  culture  and 
breadth  of  citizenship  in  the  learned  professions. 

To  save  both  these  classes  from  the  sacrifice  we  must  recognize 
them  as  classes,  biologically  conditioned.  At  every  turn  the 
evidence  in  this  study  points  to  that  inevitable  conclusion,  and 
it  is  a  conclusion  which  may  readily  be  verified.  Then  add  to 
the  provision  of  the  differentiated  curriculum  intelligent  handling 
of  each  class  according  to  its  needs.  This  means  special  classes, 
special  teachers,  special  departments,  special  schemes  of  grad- 
ing, and  mayhap  at  some  places  in  the  path  of  progress  special 
schools.  In  some  school  systems,  special  grading  into  three 
groups  for  each  year,  with  a  curriculum  providing  minimum, 
mean,  and  maximum  outlines  of  work  may,  with  a  few  special 
teachers  added,  solve  the  problem  with  study,  devotion,  and  art. 
In  others,  still  more  of  the  plans  enumerated  may  have  to  be 
pressed  into  service.  In  all,  short  intervals  between  promo- 
tions will  help  to  free  progress ;  but  care  must  be  taken  that 
when  the  promotion  unit  is  reduced  from  one  year  to  one  term, 
for  example,  it  does  not  result  in  increased  arrest.  It  is  so 
much  easier  to  contemplate  taking  three  months  out  of  a  boy's 
life  than  taking  a  full  year,  that  the  better  shorter  interval  needs 
more  careful  guarding  and  is  not  in  itself  any  removal  of  the 
necessity  of  special  teaching  for  the  backward  pupils. 

In  any  contingency  the  conditions  disclosed  demand  the  study 
of  the  problem  from  the  physiological  standpoint.  Already  we 
have  seen  the  wisdom  of  letting  no  pupil  enter  on  an  accelerate 
course  without  careful  physical  examination,  nor  continue  in  it, 
without  frequent  skilled  testing  of  the  question :  \\'hat  is  that 
course  doing  to  him? 

We  have  seen  that  the  middle  ages  and  grades  of  the  course 
for  the  elementary  schools,  indicate  an  area  in  which  accelerates 
and  arrests  disclose  themselves  most  numerously.  The  children 
in  these  grades  need  to  be  carefully  examined,  not  by  directors 
of  gymnastics  or  teachers  of  calisthenics,  but  by  physicians  who 
know  their  pediatrics  and  are  both  interested  and  skilled  in 
counselling  the  physical  and  nervous  conservation  of  the  sound 
and  gifted,  as  well  as  in  directing  the  remedial  process  and 
regime  for  the  limited  and  abnormal.  Such  a  physician  must 
have  within  his  field  of  interest,  knowledge,  and  skill,  not  simply 


68  Progress  through  the  Grades  of  City  Schools 

the  morbid  and  abnormal  child,  but  the  sound  child,  and  the 
sound  child  at.  school,  in  the  process  of  becoming  a  youth  and 
a  man.  He  must  come  with  an  open  mind  as  to  educational 
processes,  realizing  that  in  the  presence  of  many  of  them,  he 
is  just  as  intelligent  as  the  highly  educated  school  teacher  would 
be  in  the  operating  room  at  the  hospital, — and  no  more.  He 
must  come  to  help  study  and  solve  the  problems  of  education, 
discover  and  disclose  the  hygienic  and  biological  conditions  of 
successful   learning  and   teaching. 

Does  it  not  also  appear  that  the  child  in  the  class  of  arrests 
should  not  be  permitted  to  continue  there  very  long  without 
inquiring  not  simply  as  to  eyes,  ears,  possible  limiting  condi- 
tions of  teeth,  throat,  etc.,  but  as  to  mental  status  as  well.  This 
is  a  problem  which  the  school  cannot  safely  turn  over  to  the 
medical  inspector  nor  the  average  doctor,  nor  to  the  alienist. 
The  counsel  of  the  student  of  the  psychology  of  human  efficiency 
is  urgently  needed.  Might  we  not  as  well  frankly  acknowledge 
that  the  conditions  that  surround  arrest,  are  ones  which  v/e 
are  helpless  to  solve  without  the  aid  of  the  educational  psychol- 
ogist. The  physician  knows  that  bodily  status  conditions  all 
mental  output,  but  he  often  does  not  recognize  either  the  char- 
acter of  the  processes  of  that  output  among  children  of  low  or 
slow  mentality.  We  need  the  consulting  physiological  psychol- 
ogist.    How  shall  we  get  him? 

It  is  easy  enough  to  say,  this  provision  must  be  added  to 
already  heavy  school  expenses ;  and  it  will  be  economy  to  do 
this  if  necessary.  But  where  medical  inspection  is  once  inaug- 
urated as  soon  as  there  arises  necessity  for  addition  to  the  corps 
of  health  inspectors,  why  not  select  as  one,  a  practical  psychol- 
ogist, a  master  of  the  kind  of  psychology  now  beginning  to  be 
taught  in  the  best  medical  schools  and  used  in  the  laboratories 
of  schools  for  the  education  of  delinquents  or  defectives.  Med- 
ical inspection  is  not  long  going  to  be  confined  to  chasing  down 
and  labelling  scabies  or  pediculosis  or  measles  or  mumps  or 
scarlet  fever.  The  detection  and  limiting  of  contagious  diseases 
is  a  work  of  tremendous  importance,  worth  very  much  more 
than  the  money  it  has  cost.  But  the  teacher  must  learn  to 
assist  medical  inspectors  and  thus  reduce  by  half,  the  time  now 
required  for  thorough  inspection  so  that  the  physician  may  have 


Conclusions  69 

time  for  careful  ph3'sical  examination  of  all  arrests  with  a  view 
to  remedial  and  constructive  measures.  Such  assistance  of  the 
physician  b}^  the  willing  and  intelligent  teacher  may  save  money 
enough  to  pay  the  consulting  and  testing  psychologist.  How- 
ever that  may  be,  the  school  tliat  aims  to  do  its  duty  by  its 
arrests  will  command  such  service. 

Finally  since  arrest  and  acceleration  are  physiologically  con- 
ditioned, the  best  treatment  of  both  demands  that  the  highest 
standards  of  hygiene  shall  dominate  in  school  plant  and  program 
and  general  regime.  Pure  air  must  be  brought  in  and  sunshine 
must  not  be  kept  out.  What  use  is  a  ventilating  system  when 
floors  are  unswept  or  unwashed  and  a  janitor  is  abroad  with 
a  feather  duster?  What  use  are  windows  equal  in  area  to  one- 
fifth  of  the  floor  space,  with  a  teacher  who  draws  her  shades 
to  a  parlor-like  height?  What  use  are  adjustable  seats  and 
desks  that  are  rarely  or  but  annually  adjusted?  What  use  are 
play  rooms  or  playgrounds  to  children  kept  in  at  recess  or 
after  school?  What  use  is  the  warranted  heating  system  that 
keeps  things  so  hot  that  both  teacher  and  pupils  are  as  the 
complaining  prophet  described  Israel,  "  a  cake  half-baked." 
How  can  we  expect  half-baked  teachers  to  teach  half-baked 
children  whether  the  latter  are  accelerates,  arrests,  or  normals? 
The  physiological  demands  of  successful  treatment  of  these  three 
classes  call  for  a  stricter  hygienic  regime  in  the  schoolroom 
than  is  needed  in  any  other  institution  for  human  ser\Mce  save 
possibly  the  modern  hospital. 

The  solution  of  the  problem  of  how  to  adjust  our  programs 
and  policies  so  as  to  free  progress  through  the  grades  for  all 
the  children  of  all  the  people,  depends  upon  two  conditions.  We 
must  look  squarely  at  the  facts  that  are  manifest  and  apply  to 
them  all  the  truth  that  is  known.  We  must  scrutinize  carefully 
and  with  infinite  patience  the  elements  of  the  problem  which 
are  not  so  apparent,  that  v/e  may  discover  new  truth  and  apply 
it  to  further  clearing  of  the  situation. 


APPENDIX 

The  coefiicient  of  correlation  between  Scholarship  and  Deportment  was 
calculated  as  follows :  First,  a  group  of  records,  representative  in  both 
number  and  distribution,  was  obtained  b}^  random  drawing  of  20  double 
accelerates,  200  single  accelerates,  200  normals,  200  single  arrests,  and  20 
double  arrests.  Second,  the  rankings  A,  B,  C,  D,  E,  etc.,  were  put  in  fig- 
ures as  I,  2,  3,  4,  5,  etc.  That  is,  the  highest  or  A  grade  of  scholarship  or 
deportment  was  represented  as  i ;  the  next  lower  or  B  grade,  by  2,  and 
so  on.  Third.  (A.)  The  sum  of  the  numerical  rankings  of  each  of  these 
640  pupils  in  Scholarship  for  the  second,  fourth,  and  sixth  years  covered 
by  the  study,  (B.)  the  sum  of  the  scholarship  rankings  for  the  third,  fifth 
and  seventh  years  of  this  time,  (C.)  the  sum  of  the  rankings  in  Deport- 
ment for  the  earlier  three  years,  (D.)  the  sum  for  the  later  three  years, 
(E.)  the  sum  of  the  Scholarship  rankings  for  the  six  years,  and  (F.)  the 
sum  of  the  Deportment  rankings  for  the  six  years  in  the  form  of  which 
the  following  are  six  sample  lines : — 


Pupil 

Scholarship 

Deportment 

Scholarship 

Deportment 

A 

B 

C 

D 

Totals     E 

Totals  F 

I 

16 

1 1 

7 

7 

27 

14 

II 

13 

1 1 

12 

10 

24 

22 

III 

1 1 

8 

8 

6 

19 

14 

IV 

8 

5 

7 

5 

13 

12 

V 

6 

8 

4 

3 

14 

7 

VI 

5 

4 

3 

3 

9 

6 

Fourth.  When  the  records  of  these  640  pupils  had  been  thus  tabulated, 
five  direct  correlation-tables  were  prepared,  ■viz.,  A-C.  A-D,  B-C,  B-D, 
and  E-F.  Then  for  correction  purposes  tables  showing  the  correlation  of 
A-B  and  C-D  were  compiled.  These  are  the  seven  tables  which  follow, 
and  are  numbered  45  to  51,  inclusive.  The  coefficient  of  correlation  in 
each  case  is  calculated  by  the  cosine  t?  U  tables  accompanying  Thorndike's 
"Empirical  Studies  in  the  Theory  of  Measurement"  (q.v.  pp.  15  to  25). 

Fifth.  For  Table  51,  showing  the  E-F  correlations,  the  medians  of  array 
were  calculated  and  the  total  result  shown  graphically  in  the  plate  imme- 
diately preceding  this  table.  The  probability  is  that  this  table,  based  on 
the  totals  of  the  standing  in  both  scholarship  and  deportment,  furnishes 
us  the  most  reliable  of  these  measures  of  correlation.  This  is  disclosed  to 
be  .48. 
70 


Appendix 


71 


Sixth.  To  determine  the  probably  true  correlation  from  measurements, 
freed  from  accidental  errors,  recourse  was  had  to  two  methods  of  cor- 
rection for  attenuation,     (i)  Use  was  made  of  the  first  Spearman  formula 


i  (rplql+rplq2  +  rp2ql  +  rpZqz) 


disclosed  in  the  tables,  we  have 


\/(rplp2)     (rqlqj) 

-H-426  +.370  +.426  +.426) 


Substitutinor    the     values 


52. 


\/.75X.84 
(2)  Use  was  made  of  the  second  Spearman  formula,  presented  in  the 

American  Journal  of  Psychology  for  January,  1904.     By  this 
4 
\/7x2  (.48)  —  .412 


^pq- 


.64 


VsX: 


Seventh.     We  may   therefore   conclude  that  the  probably   true   correla- 
tion of  Scholarship  to  Deportment  is  between  .52  and  .64. 


C.  Deportment 

3 
4 
S 
6 

7 


13       18 


TABLE  45 


A-C  Correlations 


A.     SCHOLARSHIP 
4        5        6        7        8       9     10      II      12      13      14     15      16      17      i! 


[4 

16 

16 

12 

6 

14 

16 

1 1 

3 

6 

6 

8 

3 

S 

6 

6 

2 

3 

3 

4 

In   the  above  table,  for  A  related  to  C,  U,  the  percentage  of  pairs  of  unlike  signs,  = 
231 
640' 


D.  Deportment 

3 
4 
5 
6 
7 
8 
9 


TABLE  46 


A.     SCHOLARSHIP 


17 

18 

22 

17 

9 

IS 

14 

17 

12 

0 

18 

8 

5 

0 

14 

3 

4 

Q 

7 

0 

4 

2 

8 

6 

0 

2 

4 

3 

S 

4 

8      16 


A-D  Correlations 


13     14     IS     16     17     18 


13 
14 
IS 
16 


From  this  table,  U  =  ;—  ■  r„i„2  =  .370 
640  •    V  ^^ 


72 


Progress  through  the  Grades  of  City  Schools 


C.  Deportment 


TABLE  47 

B. 

SCHOLARSHIP 

5 

6 

7 

8 

9 

lO 

II 

3 

i6 

21 

8 

8 

13 

0 

3 

15 

13 

IS 

lO 

9 

6 

5 

4 

12 

8 

1 1 

II 

4 

4 

6 

6 

9 

6 

II 

7 

3 

6 

S 

3 

2 

4 

5 

I 

3 

3 

7 

I 

7 

3 

I 
I 

2 
I 

I 
I 

4 

2 

4 
3 

3 
6 

B-C  Correlations 


13   14  IS  i6  17 


From  this  table,  U  =  t —  ;     J"p2qi  =  .426. 


D.  Deportment 


TABLE  48 
B.     SCHOLARSHIP 


B-D  Correlations 


13     14     IS     16 


7 

19 

16 

12 

9 

9 

7 

6 

7 

6 

:o 

13 

IS 

13 

9 

17 

12 

5 

8 

12 

9 

S 

14 

12 

12 

13 

6 

14 

6 

3 

9 

6 

9 

14 

12 

4 

6 

7 

6 

4 

2 

7 

5 

4 

6 

S 

14 

6 

3 

7 

4 

2 

2 

2 

5 

2 

4 

3 

I 

I 

I 

3 
5 

I 

3 

I 

5 

From  this  table,  U  = 


640' 


.426. 


TABLE  49 


Group  B 
Records  op 
Scholarship 

3 
4 
S 
6 
7 


15 
16 
17 
18 


A-B  Correlations  for  Correction 


GROUP  A  RECORDS  OF  SCHOLARSHIP 
3        4        5        6        7        8        9      10      II      12      13 


28      14 


14      15      16      17       iS 


From  this  table,  U  =  : — •  ryioZ  ==  .S43 
040 '    ^  *^ 


Appendix 


73 


Grovp  D  Records 
OF  Deportment 

3 
4 
5 
6 
7 


TABLE  50 

C-D  Correlations  for  Correction 
GROUP  C  RECORDS  OF  DEPORTMENT 
3  4  5  6  7  8  9  lo  II  12 


92 

SI 

o 

4 

54 

39 

33 

17 

12 

39 

31 

10 

6 

i6 

i8 

19 

2 

6 

IS 

13 

13 
14 
IS 
i6 


From  this  table  U= 


640' 


/o    II  n  13  If  /s  li  / 


Scholarship 

1/  If  ZO   il    2X  23 


7  :S  29  ■30   J/   J~   S3  Jf  sf 


(Graph  for  Table  51) 


74  Progress  through  the  Grades  of  City  Schools 


too   •*  t  > 


■*  ro       ■*  fO  I 


« 

rt  N    rrOO   lO  -t  N    «    CN    M 

P3 
+ 
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« 

M    H     't  •-(     fO'O     M     fO  W    <* 

„ 

«vO   ■*'0   •*              fO 

1—1 

Pi 
O 

0 

MfONWfOtNUrOH 

PQ 
< 

5 

en 

00 

Mco'T'l-NtlT-riPiw 

O 

HI 
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vO 

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ro 

00  O          M    Tj-  w    ro  N 

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tl-  0»0  r^  H        w        w 

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H  *^  \0    t^M    O^O    M    n    fO-tl^-O    t^OO    O  O    M    ri    ro  t  lOO         j5        -M 

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A  plea  for  spread  of  aliility  in  one  grade.     Each  grade  ought  to  have 
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y  8  Progress  through  the  Grades  of  City  Schools 

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Prince,   J.   T.     Some    New    England    Plans   of   Grading   and    Promotion. 
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A  plea  for:  (i)  Short  intervals  between  classes;  (2}  specific  plan- 
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sectioning  classes,  two  or  three  groups;  (5)  teacher's  judgment  the 
chief  determiner  of  promotion;  (6)  reviews  in  every  grade;  (7)  special 
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RoSENFELD,  Jessie.     Special  Classes  in  the  Public  Schools  of  New  York. 
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What  is  being  done  for:  (i)  Children  having  some  physical  dis- 
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Slow  Pupils  in  the  High  School.     Dreher,  E.  S.     Proc.  N.E.A.,  1909:330. 

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UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 

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